Easier Said Than Done
by Lonely Traveler
Summary: Whoever said the second year at camp gets easier needs to be smacked, beaten and torched-particularly in that order. You'd think after saving the camp once, things would get better? Meet the children of Gaia-Olympus' worst nightmare.
1. Unexpected

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO.**

**Oh, if you haven't, you might want to read A Summer Worth Remembering before you read this one, which is the first part of the 'series'. If not, you WILL be confused. Just saying....**

**Ok-on with the story.**

Chapter One Unexpected

"Why do you have ta go?"

"Because I'll be safer there."

"But you didn't come back till school started last time."

" I had to do… other things first. I'm sorry if I worried you."

"….Can I come? I don't want to stay here. Mommy and Daddy always fight."

" Sawyer…."

This was how conversations between my half-brother, Sawyer Bane, and I went. The kid was so curious, he'd ask as many questions as he could. I would answer them to the best of my abilities, but they never satisfied him. And it didn't help that he had those innocent brown eyes that made your heart melt. But he could be pretty sneaky. He was smart, for a four year old. We get into the occasional petty argument, but it's tough to do that when you're eleven years older than him... which is why he always wins.

But this argument was complicated. There was no shouting or whining, just pleading. The last day of school was over and I wanted to get to Camp Half-Blood as quickly as possible. Fighting monsters while trying to pick up your baby brother from school _and_ study math was pretty damn difficult. Being at camp would make summers easier. But before I knew I was a half-blood, Owen, Sawyer and I would spend our summers together going anywhere we wanted. I kind of had to babysit him since my mom and Ryan were always working, but spending time with them was fun. This big change upset him.

Last year on the final day of school, Owen and I had been attacked by dracaenas and hadn't come home. I had gone to camp, saved them from an airborne disease and made a home for demi-titans. Not bad for a first summer right?

When I had come home, Mom and Sawyer flipped out. Ryan, my sorry excuse for a step-dad, looked a little dejected (He thought ,and hoped, that I had run away). My mom, Stacy, broke down in tears and actually apologized for not caring. That made me feel a lot better. Little Sawyer, three at the time, scolded me for being late.

But now, it was time for me to leave again. I'd packed my bags and called Owen to let him know I was ready. All I had t do now was let Sawyer understand that I wasn't leaving for good. To make me feel even worse, tears began to form in his eyes and he got really quiet. Sawyer almost never cried. As a baby, he would just stared at things, laughed and slept.

I hugged him tightly and was surprised to hear a small sob.

" I'll come back, I promise ." I said reassuringly, but for the life of a half-blood nothing is ever sure. Then I came up with an idea. "Do you want to see a magic trick?"

His eyes widened a little and he nodded vigorously. I fished in my jeans pocket for a drachma and went over to the bathroom sink. Luckily, Ryan wasn't there, or he would've given me some stupid speech on the "Dangers of Exposing Kids to the Greek Mythology." Like he knew anything…

I filled it with water, sent up a prayer to Iris, put the drachma in and said, "Show me Owen Dale."

The vision shimmered and in the sink we saw Owen dressed in a grey shirt and shorts in his room, strumming on his guitar. I had always found that interesting. A guitar-playing son of Morpheus. He looked up at us in surprise and then grinned.

"Really, Tara." he said in mock strictness. "You're setting a bad example for the kid."

I rolled my eyes, but Sawyer grinned. "It's Omen!"

I fought to stop the laughter, but it didn't work. "Not Omen. _Owen._"

"How are you, Sawyer?" Owen replied grinning.

"Good. Is that a guitar?" he said jumping up and down. He's more hyper than I was….

"Yep." He said. But all the while he was staring at me intently. He was pretty much telling me that we ought to leave before night falls.

"Is this TV?" Sawyer asked me excitedly.

"In a way." I replied, handed him a few drachmas and a slip of paper. "If you ever want to talk to me, read what's on that paper, put one coin in some water and say, 'Show me Tara at Camp Half-Blood', ok?"

He nodded and hugged me at the waist. Sometimes it surprised me how small he was. I hadn't told him I was a demigod (that would've been really stupid). I just said I had to go to a special camp.

"Don't use them up and make sure Ryan doesn't find out. And only use is to see me." I said carefully. This confused him and I could tell. "He isn't a big fan of cool magic tricks."

He smiled again and then waved to Owen. He dashed into my room, probably looking for a hiding place. Owen shook his head.

"What?" I said a little annoyed. "I thought he was going to start crying. I had to do something…"

"Sometimes I doubt that he's Ryan's son." He said a little distracted, but soon regained his focus. "We should get going."

I nodded grimly and cut off the Iris message. It was around four in the evening and my home was pretty far from Long Island. Our plan was to either get a cab or contact camp if anything went wrong. With this in mind, I got my suitcase. Kleftis was in the inner pocket of my jacket. I gave Sawyer one last hug before going into the living room. Our apartment wasn't that big. It only had two rooms. I remember when Sawyer would come running into my room late at night, saying that Mom and Ryan had argued so much that he couldn't sleep. I pushed the thoughts aside, but they soon came back when I saw the two adults at it again.

"She isn't a danger to anyone else!" my mother whispered angrily. "You're overreacting. Her being a half-blood never did anything to you."

"The kid is going to start acting like her." He fumed back. Ryan was a sort of muscular guy with cold green eyes and light blonde hair. We never saw eye to eye. Not when I met him five years ago and not now. "That girl never gives me any respect. She's a bad influence."

"She watches Sawyer more than you do and _she's_ the bad influence?" my mom seethed. We're a lot alike. Same dark, shoulder length hair and deep brown eyes. The only thing I hadn't got from her was my mischievous smile. Sometimes I thank whatever goddess of childbirth that Sawyer didn't look- or act- like his father. "You're being ridiculous."

"We could send her to live at that so called camp for good-"

Ryan stopped talking as soon as he saw me come in. I acted like I hadn't heard a word they'd said. There as definitely some tension in the room, but I put on a smile.

"Well, I'm off." I said. My mom smiled and helped me bring my things outside. When we were alone, it fell.

"Did you hear any of that?" she asked sternly. By the look on my face, she sighed. "Tara, I'm sorry about him-"

"It's fine." I said with a brave face. "Just take care of Sawyer for me. Make sure he has a good summer, please?"

She gave me a sad smile before kissing me on the cheek and walking back into the apartment building. I saw Ryan staring at us from the window and glared at him. If looks could kill…

I abandoned the thought, and walked over to Owen's house. He lived in a two family house about thirty minutes away. I saw him on the steps, looking around furtively. He had changed into a striped shirt and jeans, his curly black hair as messy as ever and his blue grey eyes were the same.

"I called the Grey Sisters cab instead." He said.

"Owen-"

"I know. They drive terribly, but we need to get there as fast as we can." He said. I could see his twin swords on his back, hidden by the thin jacket he was wearing.

"Ok."

We waited for ten minutes before a small grey cab came screeching down the road and stopped in front of us. The three hags were wrestling for what looked like and eye and a tooth. We got in and told them to take us to Camp Half Blood.

"You didn't eat anything before, did you?" I asked Own nervously. He shook his head, clutching the car seat in fear. Living so close to Yankee Stadium, the cab went in the direction of the Tribourough Bridge and headed for Queens. The rest was a blur because they were driving so fast, I couldn't see anything. I heard the sickening crunch of metal and hoped no one was hurt.

_We should've taken a normal cab_. I thought miserably. Owen looked as pale as snow.

"Just breathe." I muttered. It didn't really help. But luckily, the car halted to a stop in front of Half Blood Hill. The sight of camp again made my heart leapt and after a year away from it, I had a right to be elated. But the thought of my brother and mother at home dimmed the joy.

We paid them and ran towards the border. To my dismay, there was a small army of dracaenas ahead. I cursed and pulled out my switchblade. With the push of a button it turned into a celestial bronze sword. I saw Megan, a daughter of Aphrodite, on patrol duty with some others. She was stationed in a tree with a bow in her hand. She waved at us and then struck a few dracaenas in the shoulder. The others joined in too and as they finished, we went across.

You're probably thinking that I was a little cowardly for not joining in. But after battling Hyperborean giants and Ethiopian Forest Bulls, I thought maybe I could use a small break before getting back into monster slaying mode. Besides, Megan and the others were on the other side of the border where they couldn't have been attacked.

We went to our separate cabins before going to the Mess Hall. The Hermes cabin looked exactly the same: messy, chaotic and a little crowded. But that didn't matter. I was just happy to see that none of my siblings had died. A few hours later we all went to the Mess Hall, where Chiron and Mr. D gave their announcements.

"I would like to advice to **everyone** that sneaking out of camp after hours in **prohibited**." Said Chiron. He subconsciously looked at our cabin. Something told me the Stoll brothers had taken on of the camp vans for a joy ride…

" We would also like to thank Tara Rown, Owen Dale and Rollin Bolt for finding the cure for the…unexpected illness." There were rounds of applause from everyone. I looked around and to my shock saw more tables. They had symbols that didn't look very familiar to those of the gods. I suspected that they were demi-Titans. I noticed the Prometheus twins talking to Darius at a black and red table. Its symbol was a hand carrying a flame.

"They actually did it…." I said. They caught sight of me and waved. It was good to know they were happy.

After dinner, I got ready to leave so I could call dibs on the bottom bunk near the window. It was the best bed to sleep in if you wanted to sneak out.…

"Everyone go, except for Rick, Odin and Trisha!" yawned Mr. D. The camp looked at him in confusion. "Oh- you know who I mean!"

Before he left, I grabbed Lin, my half-sister, by the shoulder. "Make sure no one takes the bottom bunk by the window."

She looked at me like I was crazy before understanding passed on her face. Chiron and Mr. had us walk all the way to the Big House, like it was something important. They had us all sit on these uncomfortable wooden chairs while Mr. D slowly sipped on his Coke.

"Are you going to tell us why you brought us here, or what?" Rollin asked sleepily.

" Well, you know that after your quest, we've got to start recruiting demigods as well as demititans-" began Chiron.

"The latter being less important." Mr. D added disdainfully as I glared at him.

" They are coming in great numbers as well." Chiron said. "They're making up a third of the camp's population."

"And…" I said trying to speed this up.

"What we're trying to say is-"

"You three are going to help with our recruiting process since last summer you seemed so keen on having them come here." Shot Mr. D with a nasty grin on his face.

"WHAT?!" I roared with such indignation that I heard something howl in the distance. In my defense, this wasn't fair at all. I had come to camp, thinking I'd get at least one calm and easy summer. But no. These two were practically throwing those dreams out the window.

"That's no big deal." Yawned Rollin. "I already do that as it is. Can I go now?"

He was dismissed without a further word. Owen looked a little angry.

"You should consider this experience." Sniffed Mr. D.

"Experience?" I said incredulously. "I got all of the 'experience' I needed on that quest last summer. You know. The one where I was literally an inch away from DEATH? I practically busted my ass to get the antidote and help the camp. And now you're making us recruiting. You have **more **than enough satyrs helping. Why don't you ask Percy or one of the older campers. They'll probably have more 'experience' than I do. Why would you-"

And then I stopped, realization dawning on me. Mr. D was such a sore loser.

"You're punishing us, aren't you?" I said glaring at him. Chiron looked away. It was out of his hands. He was a centaur and Mr. D was (unfortunately) an Olympian. "You don't like the fact that there are going to be more demititans around, so this is some sort of win for you."

I felt like smacking that soda right out of his hand, but couldn't. Owen was tugging on my sleeve, trying to get me to calm down.

"Well you catch on very quickly don't you?" he said sarcastically. "There's no point in fighting it. All of the other Olympians agree. Well, except for your father. But no one really cares about his vote-"

"How dare you-"

"You'll start whenever we need you." He said.

"Think of it this way." Said Chiron, always the optimist. "You could find that friend of yours- Kade."

My face flushed as I saw Owen roll his eyes next to me.

"Honestly Chiron, if you think any demigod could last a year on his own." Scoffed Mr. D. "For all we know he's dead and gone to -"

I shot out of my seat so quickly it toppled over. Without another word I stormed out, not even waiting for Owen. Chiron called after me, but I ignored him and memories of the year before came back. I subconsciously tugged on the necklace he'd given me. My eyes started to sting as I ran towards my cabin. The entire year, I had been plagued by dreams of him being torn to pieces by monsters I didn't even know existed and I always blamed myself for leaving him behind.

Somehow, Owen caught up and stopped in front of me.

"Don't mind him" he said. " he's always been a sour grape."

That was irony made me smile and that made him grin. "He'll make it." He said in a low voice. Owen and Kade had never really been friends for the short time we knew him. But he had been nice enough to not insult him while I was around.

"What about this whole recruiting thing?" I said a little annoyed.

" We've taken on giant bulls and Yeti look alikes." He replied. "I doubt it can get much worse than that."

With that, he hugged me good night as he went over to his cabin. I returned to the Hermes cabin and to my surprise, saw no one lying in my favorite bunk.

_Thanks,Lin._ I thought. I waited, expecting an Iris message from Sawyer, but it never came. He was probably asleep at this time of the night. Pushing aside the bad news of the day and tried to get a good night's rest.

This was definitely going to be an interesting summer.

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**Well,here it is. Chapter one of the sequel for A Summer Worth Remembering. Maybe it's a little short, but I'm trying to squeeze it into my schedule. With school starting in a few days, I'm not sure how much I can get done. No worries, though. I'll do what I can. I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to your helpful reviews. Thanks for reading.**

**LT (Um...It means Lonely Traveler) **


	2. Mixed Emotions

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. Rick Riordan does**

**Sorry for taking so long with this. : S**

Chapter Two Mixed Emotions

I woke up the next morning feeling a lot worse than I had the day before. Maybe it was the fact that I hadn't heard from Sawyer yet, or the enormous responsibility that I'd been burdened with or maybe it was because of the reopening of a wound that hadn't quite healed yet. Nevertheless, I took a quick shower before going out for my usual morning jog.

By the time I came back, the rest of my cabin mates had gone off to the arena for sword fighting. Just to make my day even worse, it was with the Athena Cabin. We had some good sword fighters, but their strategies were a little overwhelming. Take Kim, my half-sister, and Dwayne. She's really good at getting on any opponents blind side and with her speed, they're usually weaponless in three minutes tops. But Dwayne had a way of mirroring her every move and I wasn't all that surprised when he had his sword at her throat ten minutes later.

The Stoll Brothers did a little better. But they were nineteen and used every trick possible to throw them off. It wasn't an entirely fair fight, but if this had been a real battle, would that have mattered?

Soon enough it was my turn, but I wasn't all that happy about it. There was still a very dark cloud hanging above my head and people could tell. But, lucky for them, they backed off. I was paired with Lana, a sandy brown haired girl (They aren't ALL blonde) with a lean build and a determined look in her eyes. She had a broadsword in her right hand with a grey hilt. From the back pocket, I pulled out Kleftis, a light, double-edged sword that changed into an ordinary switchblade.

The head counselors nodded for us to begin and she charged towards me at once. Her sword came down with a slash to the left and I dodged just in time. I cursed myself for putting on heavy armor. All it did was slow me down. She was wearing the same thing, but was obviously used to it. She continued to lunge and stab at me to no avail. Even with the armor, I was still dodging. But after five minutes, it felt hot and sticky.

When she decided to swipe at my legs, I sidestepped and threw the small training shield like a discus. It bounced off of her helmet, stunning her and giving me time to rip the armor off.

"Tara. Put the armor back on!" yelled Travis. "You could get hurt!"

"It's weighing me down." I snapped back and the others looked shocked. I was never one to yell at the Stoll Brothers. At least not like that. Those two were the closest to me of our entire cabin. But then again, I was having a lot of mixed emotions and none of them were good.

All Travis did was watch on expressionless as Lana came out of daze. She glared at me with such anger I thought the room would go up in flames.

"What the Hades was that!" she retorted. For some strange reason, her reaction made me laugh.

"What?" I asked innocently. She pulled off her helmet and walked towards me menacingly.

"You know what I mean!" she yelled. "That was cheap move!"

"Not cheap." I said, feeling cheeky. "Clever. Just because you never thought of it doesn't make it wrong."

She eyed me from a distance. By now we had both stopped fighting. The others, watching in suspense, stared on without a word. I gripped my sword and charged towards her at blinding speed. The urge to get this over with was so great that I didn't even considered forfeiting. Her eyes widened as I took a clean swipe at her stomach. She quickly dodged it, but I elbowed her in the forehead and she reeled backwards. I twisted her sword out of her hand with a sharp flick of the wrist and held Kleftis to her neck. She glared at me through the strands of her brown hair. Without another word, I left the arena, not very pleased with the win.

I heard Travis' footsteps before I actually saw him. He looked pretty much the same as last year: tall, brown eyes and hair, a crooked grin and hints of a mustache. Right now, he looked a little concerned. That just made me feel guilty.

"Hey." I mumbled before trying to walk away. He soon followed me, jogging along. "How was college?"

He waved his hand, as if he were brushing away flies. "Oh, you know. Connor and I are at Syracuse. The usual. Pulled a prank on the Dean of Admissions and almost got expelled in the first week."

That was nothing. I had thought they'd get expelled on the first _day_.

" Cool." I said dismissively.

Then he stopped and blocked my way. It was useless to try and get past him. He just wouldn't give up. To my surprise he grinned.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong or will I have to tickle it out of you?"

I cringed at the thought of it. I didn't have too many weaknesses. But the one thing that made me crumble was being tickled. I'd end up laughing for hours with tears streaming down my face. I saw most of the camp leaving their first lessons and gong onto their next. If they saw me like that, it would've been beyond embarrassing.

"Travis-"

"One-"

"You wouldn't dare-"

" Two-" he said getting a little closer.

"Seriously, stop-"

"Three!"

"ALRIGHT!" I said with my arms out. There was no use. "I'm just a little stressed, that's all."

Understanding passed on his face as he leaned against the Hephaestus cabin. That was how I told them apart. Connor could make you laugh at anything, but Travis was more of the caring one.

" How so?"

"Well, Mr. D practically screwed with my summer because he's got me recruiting demi-titans now, I'm worried sick about my other brother and …"

"What?"

"Things haven't gone the way I hoped they would." I suddenly felt deflated and exhausted. It was like the weight of the world had been put on my back, sort of like last summer.

" Well, if everyone got their way, that would make life way too easy. And no half-blood's life is supposed to be that way." he said.

"So what do I do then?"

He shrugged, "Just take it one problem at a time."

He waved and turned back to the arena and I stood there, pondering his words.

"You might want to check out the other cabins." He called from behind him. " Your idea seemed to work."

With a start, I realized he had been talking about the cabins for the demi-titans. I had seen some of the construction done, but after school had started, I didn't get to see the rest of it. This third wing of cabins was on the other side of Euros Creek on the northern end of the Climbing Walls. It was a little bit far from the other cabins, but I decided not to think about it.

These cabins were shaped the same way as those for the cabins of demi-gods. There were in a rectangular form. There were actually a lot of other kids running around, ranging from the ages of four to eighteen. The first cabin I saw was Hyperion's, the Titan of Light. It was a molten gold color with the symbol of a blazing sun over the door. As I came closer, a short teenager with dark red hair and eyes bright eyes came bustling out of the door with a telescope in his hand. I accidently crashed into him and he gave me a speedy apology.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there. Must've been distracted by the – say, do you know Marshall, Caitlin and Darius?" he said out of the blue.

"Um, yeah?" I said already wary of him. Then he just grinned.

"I'm Aaron Gage, son of Hyperion." He said, shaking my hand. "You're a bit of a heroine around here. After what you did last year."

"Really?" I said surprised. I wasn't actually expecting demi-titans to come. As a matter-of-fact, before last year, I wasn't even sure they existed.

"You want a tour?" he asked politely. By the way he acted, he didn't seem anything like his father. I nodded and he showed me the various cabins. The Coeus cabin, who was the Titan of knowledge, was a shade of purple made of smooth marble. There was the symbol of a large book. The rest of the cabins were most of the original twelve titans, but there were also others for Prometheus, Epimethus, Perses (Titan of Destruction) and Atlas.

"They gave him that cabin out of respect." He muttered. But what really shocked me were the two smaller cabins that were set apart from the others. The first was a dark blue with patterns of a dusk sky etched into the stonework. Next to it was a cabin that- literally- seemed to have sprung right out of the earth. Its roof had flowers along the edges and at the windowsills. It almost reminded me of the Demeter Cabin, but seemed more apart of nature. Inside, two people were laughing.

"The Ouranos and Gaea cabins." He said.

The most I knew about Ouranos was that he had been god of the sky before the Titans or Olympians and castrated by Kronos (ouch). Gaea was petty much Mother Earth.

"Whose inside the Gaea cabin?" I asked curiously. Then Aaron smiled.

" Just Sandi and Owen."

"Owen?" I said questioningly. "As in Owen _Dale_?"

"Yup. That's the one."

I opened the wooden door and, like Aaron said, inside were Owen and Sandi talking and laughing like they were the only people in the room (which is what they were probably thinking because they didn't even stop when we barged in). Sandi was tall with dark green eyes, long brown warm and a warm smile. She was sitting on the edge of a bunk with Owen next to her. The inside of her cabin was dimly lit with wooden plank walls and a carpeted floor.

It wasn't until I cleared my throat that they both looked in our directing. Sandi studied me curiously before Owen spoke.

" Hey." He said awkwardly. "How was sword practice?"

"…Spectacular." I said unenthusiastically. He must've caught the change in attitude because he frowned a little. But it was soon replaced by a little smile.

"This is Sandi Castle, daughter of Gaea." He said. "Or, as I like to call her, Sandcastle."

She rolled her eyes and playfully swatted him on the arm. Then she held out her arm towards me warmly. "Pleased to meet you."

I hesitantly shook her hand and an awkward silence followed. In an attempt to break it, I asked, "So, how long have you two known each other?"

" I kind of went to camp for a week during winter break." Said Owen, scratching the back of his head and looking away guiltily. "Since you couldn't come, I thought I'd see if any more demi-titans had made it. You know, to make them feel welcome. I saw Sandi trying to pass the border, but a Leukrokota was chasing her and I helped her. She passed out-"

"Because you accidentally held your shield to my face." She put in.

" Yeah… So now, we're sort of…friends." He concluded.

I just sort of stared on in fascination. Owen had never mentioned her during the school year.

" That's great." I said. "I hope you enjoy camp and …everything else it has to offer."

I left the cabin and a very confused Aaron to go to the Climbing Wall. There's nothing like straining your body up a forty foot wall in the blazing hot sun while dodging the waves of molten lava to clear your head. But before I could, Chiron came galloping over to me.

"Sir?"

"Where's Owen?"

" In the Gaea cabin." I said. Then he frowned.

" If Ms. Sandi is in there with him, I'm afraid he'll get kitchen duty for a week."

Oh, right. You aren't allowed to be in the same cabin as the 'opposite gender' alone.

" There's no need to worry." I said nonchalantly. "Aaron's in there with them, too."

He looked at me funnily before shaking his head and heading towards the Gaea cabin. When he came inside, Aaron blushed, since he wasn't supposed to be in there, but Owen wouldn't even look at Chiron, since he had apparently skipped guard duty to be there.

"So what's the problem?" I asked eager to leave. He turned towards me with a smile on his face.

"Congratulations." he said. "We've got your first recruiting mission."

...Crap.

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**Yup, chapter two. It's kind of a filler, but there will be more to come. Whose parent do you think the demi-titan's is. And how do you feel about Sandi. Not sure how I came up with that whole 'Sandcastle', but whatever. I will try to update as much as possible, so please don't kill me if I don't. Please review. It does help. ANd I'd like to thank caitlumms for giving me some good advice. Feel free to review or PM me. Thanks for reading... and being patient with me.**

**LT**


	3. Recruiting SUCKS!

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. Rick Riordan does. Duh!**

Chapter Three Recruiting SUCKS

I was at least hoping to stay at camp with no interruptions for at least a week before they gave me a mission. But it looks like luck just wasn't on my side. It never was…

"Really?" I asked dejectedly. Chiron looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes." He said. " A girl in Ithaca."

Owen eyes widened. "You mean the one in Greece?"

Sandi fake-coughed to hide her laughter, and I couldn't help but grin.

"No… I meant the city in upstate New York." The centaur replied while giving the son of Morpheus a concerned look. Owen's face reddened and he looked away.

"Do you know who her parent is?" I asked in curiosity. Then he frowned.

"Well, no." he said scratching the back of his head. "You see, we don't know very much except her first name and address. The titans are a lot smarter when it comes to hiding their children than the gods…"

Well _that_ was convenient.

"Ok, so you expect us-"I began.

"Us? No. You're going alone."

"What?" I said in surprise. They couldn't expect me to go on my own to some place I'd never been to and get a girl I've never met. "That's crazy!"

"You're less likely to attract monsters that way." He pointed out. But it still felt wrong to me. I'd been through a lot with Rollin and Owen. It felt right that they should come with me. "Besides, they have their own missions to complete."

"I do?" Owen said in surprise. Chiron nodded and he handed him a portfolio, complete with pictures, a short profile and the works. This made his job twice as easier.

"Why do I _always_ get the short end of the stick?" I grumbled. Chiron just sighed before saying,

"You all leave at noon."

With that he left. I didn't have anything left to say to the rest of them, so I left. I decided to skip the rest of my lessons until two in the evening. In the mean time, I filled a knapsack with things I thought I'd need for the mission: clothes, winged shoes, a traveler's cloak that could morph me into anyone I wanted to look like, a translation necklace and some cash.

I'm not really sure what to think about Sandi. She seems all right. Owen likes her and that's great with me. But it would've been nice to know that they'd been friends for the past six months. We didn't keep much from each other, Owen and I. But then again, a lot of things had changed since last year…

Thinking about it now, I do remember Owen seeming a lot more cheerful after the winter break and I doubt it was because of the gifts. He just said that things had gotten better between him and his mother, who argued more often than the Apollo flirted with the Hunters of Artemis. He even got a haircut, which wasn't like him. I had believed him because, frankly, it was never easy to tell if Owen was lying.

Before I knew it, it was two in the evening and I ran over to Half-Blood Hill. On the other side of the camp borders was a white van that said Delphi's Strawberry Service, but it was just a cover name for Camp Half-Blood. At the wheel was a Argus, a many-eyed giant wearing a suit. Inside were Owen and Rollin talking amiably.

"I thought they said we couldn't go together." I asked confused.

"We aren't." explained Rollin. "We just all happen to be going in the same direction as you are, but we've got to split after this."

With a sudden bump, the car began to move and we were on our way.

"How are we getting back?" Owen asked nervously. It was at least good to know he was as worried as I was. The satyr just shrugged. He had probably done this loads of times-, which didn't make things much better. After driving through Long Island and into Yonkers, Rollin finally said something.

"So, what's up with you and this Sandi girl?"

_Way to change the mood Rollin _I thought. Owen blushed a little and started to fiddle with the dagger on his belt.

"What…what about us?" he muttered. Rollin rolled his eyes.

"Hmm. I don't know." The satyr replied sarcastically. "Maybe it was the fact that you two have gotten all chummy since December and you asked me if you thought she liked guys with short hair or-

"Hang on." I said abruptly. "You told Rollin about her, but not me?"

He went an even deeper shade of crimson as I stared at him. We must've stared at each other for a good five minutes before he said "Oh, look. There's my stop."

As the car halted in Troy, he stepped out, waved and ran across the street at top speed. I then turned my gaze to Rollin. "You could've told me."

Then he just sighed. "I honestly thought it was some harmful crush. Didn't think it would go anywhere… Besides, it isn't my job to retell everything the boy says to you. Getting you two to camp should've been my only job…"

Such a charm, that satyr is.

"If he wanted to tell you he would have-"

"Yes, but WHY didn't he tell me before?" I said angrily. "Why did I have to find out like that, as if it were some secret?"

Rollin just shrugged. "Maybe he wasn't ready."

I sighed and looked away, knowing he wasn't going to tell me anything more. With a grunt, Argus pointed out the window to a sign that read ITHACA COMMONS. In the distance were large shopping malls, restaurants and parking lots crowded with SUVs and Hondas. It was summer, after all.

I got out of the car and Rollin poked his head out of the window. "Be safe and … don't do anything stupid."

I gave him a small smile before turning to see where I had been dropped off. After walking around a bit, I bought a map from a crooked looking man wearing a Nets Jersey. By comparing the address to where I was, I could tell that her house was a little far. It was only around five o' clock, but there were lots of people shuffling around with shopping bags and there was no telling the difference between mortals and monsters. With a sigh, I signaled a cab and told him to take me to the address.

After an hour and a half later, the cab pulled up in front of a large white house with a grey slate roof and a large oak tree in the front. The garage was connected by what looked like the kitchen (at least from the open window). After paying the cab driver, I eyed the house, thinking of what to say. It didn't seem like anyone was inside, which was bad because I wasn't even sure where this mystery demititan would be. But, not willing to give up, I gathered whatever courage I had left and rung the doorbell.

For some reason I expected an empousa to come out and take a bite out of my throat. But what I got instead was a wide-eyed man wielding a sharp carving knife in his left hand and hot poker in his right.

"Stay away from her you damned beasts!" he roared before taking a lunge at me. I cried out in surprise and sidestepped as he buried the poker in the railing on the steps. Before he could cleave my head off with his knife, I grabbed his arm.

"Stop!"

He looked at me, murder in his hazel eyes. "No! You're after her. I know it! "

He pushed me away and I tumbled backwards down the wooden steps. Rolling off of the bushes, I pulled out Kleftis, but keeping it in the form of a switchblade. I couldn't help but wonder what the neighbors would think if they saw this.

" Who are you talking about?" I asked, but I knew already. I just needed to make sure I was at the right place.

"Don't play dumb with me." he snarled. "I'm putting an end to this."

With that, he charged and I twisted the ring on my left middle finger. An iron shield with a winged hat and Greek symbols were written along the edges. It met his impact well and he fell to the floor in a daze.

"I don't understand." He said running a hand through his black hair with lines of grey. "The shield… Are...are you from that camp?"

I nodded. " Camp Half-Blood."

Sadness passed through his eyes as he got up slowly. "She told me they didn't want her there. That she was safer with me…"

Feeling exhausted, I told him about everything that had happened since last summer. The sickness, my quest to find the cure, and the turn of events that took place when I found out that Prometheus had been behind it. He stared on with wide eyes in amazement.

"How does a fifteen year old girl do all of that?" he asked. "And why would they send you on something like this after all of that?"

"That's the same thing I've been wondering." I muttered darkly. But then I remembered what I had come for. " I kind of need to bring her… it can be just for the summer if you want. But with all these monsters on the loose since the war, it's safer. For her and you."

This made him frown. "How can you be sure? Does her being the child of a Titan make her less susceptible to these monster attacks? And how do I know this camp has the proper security to keep her safe? And how do I know you won't lose her along the way-"

Damn, this man could ask questions.

" What are you, a lawyer or something?" I said in annoyance.

"As a matter of fact, I am." He said smirking a little. Then he went back to frowning. "But you still haven't convinced me that-"

"Dad?"

In the doorway was a girl my age with shoulder length black hair, hazel eyes like her father and a scar on her left arm that looked recent. She looked at me with a critical gaze. It felt like she could make me spill out my most kept secrets without even batting and eyelash. That and she was hiding a small knife behind her back.

"What the Hades is with you people and your sharp kitchen utensils?" I said indignantly.

"Mandy." Her father said in surprise. "Why aren't you inside doing homework?"

She rolled her eyes. " It's _summer_."

"No excuse not to get an edge in your education…"

"You flunked three subjects in the tenth grade and still managed to become a lawyer!"

"But it was things like flunking that held me back."

"Well if you would just listen to me for once-"

"Ehem." I said, clearing my throat. They both turned to look at me. "Um, didn't mean to be rude, but we need to go."

"…Who's 'we'?" Mandy replied turning a stern gaze in the direction of her father.

"I think it's time we went inside." Without another word, they went into the house and locked the door behind them.

"Guess I'll wait here then." I muttered as I leaned against the oak tree. There was an awkward buzzing coming from inside of the trunk, but I thought it was just my ears playing tricks on me. But it got harder to compete with it and the angry shouts, "Are your crazy?" to " Why didn't you tell me all of this before?" and finally "How could you have **slept **with the defendant's **lawyer**? Aren't their rules against stuff like that?" Maybe he had closed the door for a reason…

A good ten minutes later, the door reopened and Mandy was holding a suitcase, tears in her eyes with her dad not too far behind. He looked as if he'd aged five years since I first rung the doorbell and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"I could drive you there if you like." He muttered soberly.

"Sure." Without another word, we all went into the garage and inside was a blue Camry. I sat in the back while Mandy's father put her bag in the trunk. By the time he started driving, it was around six-forty five and I was getting nervous.

I couldn't think about that just then, because as soon as I looked out the window, I saw a vicious flock of savage harpies heading our way.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me!" I murmured. Beside me, Mandy just stared at them in amazement and confusion. Her dad just looked annoyed.

"Can't stand pigeons!" he said irritated. "Always getting crap all over my car and now they're blocking the windshield. Move! You stupid birds!"

As he honked his horn and yelled, it only made things worse as they came in closer and flashed their sharp talons. The one on my side of the window screeched and I cursed in Greek.

"Um.. Mr.… whatever your name is-"

"Andy."

"Yeah. Do you think you could speed it up a little?" I asked in panic. When his eyes met mine, I knew that he understood what was happening. We were soon driving at speeds that would have probably gotten us a ticket, but the drivers seemed to be paying more attention to the 'flock of birds' than the car it was following. An hour later, we were somewhere over the East River, but they were still in pursuit. In frustration, one of them slammed into the side of the trunk and the car almost veered off of the road. A sense of dread came over me as I saw them circling the car, waiting to attack.

"What do we do?" Mandy asked, her face pale. I racked my brain for a way out of it. By now, we were on in the Tribourough Bridge on our way to Queens and the traffic wasn't all that bad. I dug into my bag and took out the winged Converses I'd gotten in my fist year at camp and put them on as quickly as possible. I rolled down the window and stuck my head out, feeling the warm breeze hit me full in the face. Without a second thought, I climbed out through the window and grabbed the hood of the car.

"What the hell are you doing?" Andy said with wide eyes. Mandy tried pulling me back inside but I moved further away and looked up at the circle of harpies not too high up.

"I'll try to distract them." I said in a shaky voice. "Keep driving."

"You can't expect us to just –"

His comment was cut off when one of the harpies came down and took a swipe at the roof.

"Ok. I'll go!"

With that, leapt off and expected to go plummeting to my death (again). But instead, I rose to the same height as the harpies.

_Dad must've been lying about how high these could go_ I thought as I gazed downwards. The harpies all changed their directions towards me and came in a V-formation at lightning speed. But I was just as fast. I lowered myself and swiftly poked one of them in the stomach. They dissolved into golden dust and there were only four left.

They began to eye me suspiciously and made a circle around me, closing in steadily. By now, my heart was beating out of my chest and I had no doubt that fear was written all over my face. I charged towards the closest harpy and used my shield to ram it in the chest when it dodged my stab attack. With a vicious sideways slash, it disintegrated and the others looked at each other in worry.

"Come on bird-brains!" I taunted to keep them away from the others. "Who's next?"

One of them, by waving a wing in my direction, sent a gush of wind that threw me halfway across the bridge. I felt an explosion of pain in my back as I hit one of the vertical bars. Before I could fall I kicked my legs forward and went into the air, a lot more disoriented and dizzy than before. From afar I could've sworn I saw a blue Camry zooming past everyone else. With a grin, looked for the rest of the harpies. They were still circling, but that didn't bother me anymore. Instead I flew over the bridge and East River at top speed. I was done fighting. The only thing I could do now was loose them as soon as I crossed the border.

A myriad of colors whizzed by as I gripped the sword and shield in my hand. Not too far behind were three pissed off bird women who had their claws out and their mouths open.

"Come on, just a little farther." I muttered as my eyes watered. I almost yelled out in joy when I saw the familiar Big House in the distance and a few archers stationed in the surrounding trees. A car had been parked in front of it and I could see Mandy hurrying across the border.

With a desperate screech, the harpy directly behind me lunged forward and I turned around just in time to land a kick in its face. It careened backwards and collided with the other two. They fell through the air and finally landed- through the roof of someone's house.

With a sigh of relief I flew the extra quarter mile towards the camp where Mandy and her dad were staring at me wide-eyed. A few campers grinned in the background.

"You-you just-" she stuttered.

"Dear gods…" muttered her father.

With a grim smile I said, "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

***********************************************************

**Can't believe I finally got this done. I am EXTREMELY sorry for the long wait. School just ruins everything. I'm already up to my neck in work. Oh well. No use complaining about it... Did you like the chapter. Was it 'action-packed' enough. Hope it was. Because I haven't got a clue when i'll be updating again... Just bear with me. And thanks for waiting.... And review. It helps!**

**LT**


	4. Not Again

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. Rick Riordan does. Is this really necessary to say at this point?**

Chapter Four Not Again

Have you ever come back to a place that wasn't really home after a really intense day of running, flying and fighting for your life?

No? I didn't think so.

But seriously, it had only been my first time recruiting and I already hated it. There at least three bruises on my back because of the whole ordeal at the bridge and a mild ankle sprain, which sucks when you're someone who likes to run a lot. But luckily for me, Mandy and her father were all right and now they were saying their goodbyes. It was heartbreaking to watch, but the dull pain in the back of my head and it wasn't from being smacked into a bridge.

It was annoying, like a slight buzzing in my ear that wouldn't go away. I gripped the sides of my head and leaned against a nearby tree trying to make it stop, but for some reason it only got louder. I even tried the breathing exercises that Ben, my half-brother, had taught me. He called it Ocean Breathing. But it definitely wasn't working. The buzzing had risen to the volume of giant speakers turn up to the max.

"Tara?" Megan said with a bow on her back. She inched forward. "Are-are you OK?"

All I could do was shake my head and try to clamp my ears shut. "Make it stop!"

"Make what stop?" asked a wide-eyed son of Apollo. "Oh, gods, she's gone off the rail again hasn't she?"

"Shut up, you dolt!" Megan spat back. Without another word, she helped me up and we walked towards the infirmary. "Um, one of you might want to show them around."

The rest of the half bloods got to work and from the corner of my eye, I saw Mandy and her father hug one last time before walking toward his blue Camry. About five minutes of trying to persuade Megan that I was fine (I can't stand hospitals or infirmaries), we were in front of the infirmary and Amelia, a daughter of Demeter, was wrapping the arm of a four-year-old boy. She was around seventeen with long auburn hair and green eyes.

"That's all better, right?" she said. The blue-eyed boy gave a timid smile and nodded before looking straight at me. For a moment I was taken aback by how blue his eyes were and couldn't help but be reminded of a camper I had known…

He looked away and went to get some ice in the back room. After he left, Amelia sighed sadly before cleaning up.

"That's Avery." Megan she said. "Some lady dropped him off here a year ago. Said it was too dangerous to keep him anymore."

"I didn't hear about him…" I muttered while massaging my temples.

"He came here when you were on that quest." She said shaking her head. "I don't think I've ever seen a kid that fragile before."

Then she seemed to remember why she'd brought me here and told Amelia my problem.

"Yeah. And then she just started spazzing or something like that and I decided to bring her here." She finished at last. Spazzing? Really?

"How are you feeling now?" Amelia said with a flashlight in her hand as she checked my pupils.

"I feel…better?" I said uncertainly. This time I definitely wasn't lying. As quickly as the buzzing had begun, it had stopped.

"You better not be saying that just to get out of here because if you are-" For a daughter of Aphrodite, Megan could strike the fear of Zeus into you.

"No. Seriously. It… it stopped." I said a little frightened. " Not sure why but…"

When I looked up, they were both staring at me, waiting for an answer.

"I should go check on Mandy or something." I lied quickly and without another word left to the Big House. By the time I got there, Owen and Rollin were there with their charges, all in one piece.

"Good to see you alive." Owen said, but I could tell that he was trying not to look at me. I'd deal with him later…

What really interested me was the boy sitting next to Rollin. He looked at least fourteen, but was built like a linebacker. His steely grey eyes gazed around in silent curiosity as he constantly ran a hand through his black hair. I guess even tough guys get nervous at the sight of a centaur. The other girl sitting next to Owen looked tired, as if she had run the New York City Marathon.

What was most unnerving was the fact that Rollin still looked nervous. Scratched that, he looked _terrified_. His eyes were wide, his body was shaking slightly and I saw beads of sweat forming on his forehead. This wasn't like him…

"Rollin, are you feeling alright?" I said, ignoring Owen's statement. He looked at me fearfully and just shook his head. Mr. D just rolled his eyes as Chiron began to speak.

"Well, I guess you have all done relatively well for your first time. Though some of you do look a bit winded…"

His gaze turned to the tired redheaded girl and Owen lowered his head in embarrassment. "This proves to me that you are ready for-"

"Ready?" Owen said in indignation. "Chiron, I was almost killed in the Hudson River because of some directionally challenged Tritons who mistook me for a 'threat to there ecosystem' and set an amphisbaena after me!"

The girl looked at him with wide eyes and said, "That's what that two headed thing was?"

Chiron nodded grimly as Mr. D snapped for us all to shut up. "Like I was saying, I'm proud of you accomplishments. You probably won't have to do this for another two weeks, with the exception of Rollin, because there are shifts. Connor will show you to your sleeping quarters."

The recruits were sent away and we all left, too. But I immediately went to Rollin, waiting until everyone else but Owen had left.

'What's wrong?" I said cutting to the chase. He just shook his head again and tried to walk away but I grabbed his arm. "I'm not leaving until you tell us."

"Something isn't right." He said in a low voice. "I'm not sure why but I can feel it. Call it paranoia but… I got this buzzing feeling in my ear and whenever I was near nature it wouldn't _stop_."

You could only imagine the sinking feeling in my stomach when he said that. Owen just looked on in confusion.

" Something's...disturbing the earth and whatever it its… it's BIG." He said shaking again.

"Maybe it's just a feeling." Said Owen, fiddling with the hilt of his sword. "It's because of what happened last year. You'll be fine by tomorrow."

But Rollin just shook his head and looked at me. "You felt it too, didn't you? It isn't just me."

They both looked at me and the sudden attention made me blush. "I- it could've been anything."

"Just cut it out!" Owen said visibly annoyed. "It's bad enough we were almost killed again today. But now this? Last year was enough. Just forget you ever felt it."

"Owen we can't just-"

"Yes we can and if you know what's good for you, keep quiet!"

He stormed off in the direction of the Morpheus cabin, people falling unconscious as soon as he walked past them. Rollin looked remorseful.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said all that..."

"No." I said as anger boiled over. "He's just being stupid. He knows being a half-blood means trouble and he's just shying away from it as usual. Selfish asshole."

"Tara!" the satyr said, looking at me in surprise. He had never seen me call Owen anything like that before. But, hey. There's a first time for everything. "I'm sure he's just confused or scared. It's alright to be frightened by things-"

"Well, if you're frightened you usually go to a close friend for help, not some stranger you've know for five months!"

He didn't say much after that.

"I'm going to go somewhere." I said turning around. He sighed.

"Don't do anything stupid."

That made me smile. "That's the second time you've told me that today."

"And it doesn't seem to be working." He muttered as he turned towards the forest.

I went in the direction of the titan cabins (No. I was NOT looking for Owen!) and went towards the one made of black marble and torches on the walls. After knocking, the door opened and Marshall Damon peered out with his dark eyes and hair. He had grown- he wasn't as skinny as usual.

"Hey Tara." He said blushing. He let me inside. It was he same on the inside as it was on the outside but had news paper clippings of new inventions and there was an abnormally large science encyclopedia on a chair dedicated to itself.

"Wow…" I breathed.

"A little plain but it's home."

"So how's camp treating you and your sister?" I asked trying to lighten the mood. He was really tense for an eleven-year old.

He shrugged. " Its nice and all. Caitlin's at the Sing-Along thing with her friends. Most of the people are nice-"

"Most of them?" I said with a raised eyebrow. He blushed again and looked away.

"It's nothing but…sometimes I get pushed around by demigods and the worst part is that I can _see_ it coming. That's why I usually stay on this side of the camp. Caitlin's a lot better at fighting them off. She broke this kid's nose when he said stuff about us being orphans. At least she can use a sword…"

"So why can't you?"

" Because I suck at it!" he said desperately. " Swords. Bows and arrows. _Slingshots_. I'm not good at anything, accept for crafts, painting and swimming but those don't really matter to anyone."

I shook my head and sat next to him on the bed. "That isn't true. You don't have to be a good fighter to be a good demigod."

"Then what does? Because I don't seem to fit into anything."

"Well... Jimmy Hendrix was a son of Apollo and I don't think anyone's ever seen him lift up a bow in his life. He used the only talents he had and he made it."

"I don't have any talents." He said quietly.

"Oh? So I guess that forethought isn't a gift worth having?" I ask. "Think about it. If you've ever had short glimpses of your future, then who would have the upper hand? You or the bully?"

"I guess so…"

"Look, if you think anyone's out to get you, even my own siblings, I'll get them for you. Alright?" I said firmly.

He nodded and I gave him a hug. Yeah, it seemed like the weirdest time to do something like that, but he seemed like he needed it.

I left the Prometheus cabin at around eight with a list of names that Marshall had 'seen' and went to steal- I mean 'borrow'- some food from the kitchens. It didn't work out too well since the harpies (these didn't try to take me head off) kicked me out the first chance they got and I went back to my cabin falling asleep as soon as I hit my pillow.

And of course, I had one of those dreaded "Demigod Dreams".

_The cavern was vast and underground with a few dimly lit torches and old paintings worn into the walls. Though they couldn't be see, there were several large masses moving around. Their footsteps caused the earth to quake. Something about them was unnatural, as if they were human, but not completely._

_Sitting on a throne shrouded in darkness sat a large figure with smoldering eyes and a bulking figure._

"_They've discovered us." He said in a voice that rolled like thunder. "I don't know how but someone must've slipped up."_

_He turned his gaze to one of the others who had been standing and now had his head lowered. "I didn't know a … slight disturbance would catch the attention of a mere satyr and a demigod."_

"_A slight disturbance?!" the one on the throne roared. "You almost caused an earthquake that would've left a quarter of San Francisco in rubble! If you try to leave without my orders again , I'll shove you back into Tartarus myself!"_

_That quieted the one sitting down. The figure on the throne then continued._

"_You all know why we're here. We've been at the bottom for too long. The gods and titans have had their time. I know I'm not alone when I say this: We will no longer be a Greek histories footnote!"_

_The rest of them gave a large roar of approval before quieting down._

"_The plan has been set in motion. We've sent out our scouts and made our allies. The gods are still weak from the war, whether they'll admit it or not. Either way, we'll make our first strike on the training base and then knock them right out of the sky."_

"_But what about the exit?" said another shaking slightly. "After that earthquake we can't possibly use that same way out."_

_Then the figure on the throne chuckled cruelly. "Believe me. There are other ways out of the Underworld-"_

_Then he stopped abruptly and turned towards one of the pillars that had been hidden by the shadow of the torches. For a brief second, cold black eyes met brown ones and Tara lost the ability to move. Whether it was fear or some magical power, she didn't know._

"_It seems we have a visitor." He said in a stony silence and got up from his throne. He took a large sword from his scabbard and walked over to her like he had all the time in the world. He was dressed in a toga and seemed taller than an average human. There was a maddening glint in his eyes that made Tara shiver._

"_As sneaky as your father, aren't you?" he growled. "I never did like him."_

_Tara said nothing._

"_Sweet dreams, Tara Rown."_

_He brought down his sword with a slash._

_*******************************************************************_

_**PLEASE READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!#&(#*&)(&^$%%%$#$%&* - pure nonsense, just felt like it. : )**_

_Sorry about the long wait again. Actually, I should've been doing homework when I wrote this so...in a way I'm not sorry. Hm.. that doesn't make much sense._

_Ok... So how was it? Did Owen seem a little out of it? Do you have a clue about what those things are (IF YOU DO, DON'T SAY ANYTHING IN YOUR REVEIW. JUST PM ME INSTEAD!!!!) and what you think Tara will do about them. Also, you might want to pay attention to a few of the characters mentioned. They'll play important roles later on... can't say much more than that!_

_Thanks for reading and please review!_

_LT_


	5. That's Personal!

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. Rick Riordan does. Duh!**

Chapter Five That's Personal!

I don't think I've screamed that loud since I found a spider hidden under my pillow (courtesy of one of my siblings of course).

I had woken with a start and screamed so loud and for so long that, according to Connor, everyone thought that a drakon had invaded camp.

"What in Hades' name could've scared you that bad to wake everyone up?" he asked mildly concerned.

I was still shaking a little and my palm felt cold and clammy to the touch. My heart was almost beating out of my chest as I fought to regain the ability to talk. I had woken up just before the blade was sent right through my head. But it had seemed so real…

"I-I don't know." I lied quickly. I couldn't tell anyone just yet. The camp had just recovered from the sickness scare last summer. It wouldn't be fair to burden them again. "It was just a bad dream about…very hairy tarantulas."

A few people looked at me with raised eyebrows as I turned my head towards the window. Apollo was pulling his chariot through the sky without a care in the world. The entire camp was still asleep. It was probably six in the morning. I waited for everyone else to return to their bunks or sleeping bags before I silently lifted the window open and crawled out.

The first thing I noticed was the feeling of the grass through my socks. It was cool, but every now and then there was a hint of trembling underneath. I shuddered and ran towards the shore side, hoping the feeling would go away.

It had only started a day ago and coincidentally around the time that I had the dream. But was there some sort of rebellion going on? And if there was, where was it going to happen? None of it made any sense.

By now I was walking through the woods and the familiar buzzing sound started up again. It grew to a roar and I was soon sprinting past the trees to get away from it. And just the- I smacked right into Rollin.

"By Pan's pipes, what wrong with you?" he muttered. He finally realized it was me and he frowned. "Tara, it's six in the morning. What are you doing here?"

I considered telling him. He was pretty much going through the same thing I was. There was no way I was going to talk to Owen about this. There was always Megan, but then she'd start complaining about her beauty sleep. Chiron and Mr. D would probably dismiss it as something minor. So Rollin was all I had. With a heavy heart, I admitted to hearing noises and the dream. His expression went from concern to interest to worry in under a minute.

" You said you didn't see it's face at all and it looked underground to you?" he pondered. I just nodded and sighed as I looked out to sea. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. It was like hoping for something that would never come…

_This isn't the time!_ I thought sharply.

"So could it be something dangerous?" I asked with my brows furrowed in concern.

"By the looks of it yes, but until something big has happened there's no way to connect that dream with the noises…"

"But why am _I_ hearing these things and none of my other siblings?" I asked in frustration. "I just don't get it. These things always seem to happen to me. Gods, I'd give anything to just take it all back…"

Then Rollin looked at me curiously. "Do you really think that? Do you think things would have been better if you weren't a half-blood? If your father hadn't been a god and had just abandoned you to save his own skin?"

He did have a point. If my dad had been some hapless mortal who didn't even care about his own kids, it could've been worse. I'd have still been stuck with Ryan. At least Hermes had watched over me…

"Ok, maybe I don't wish that."

"Think about it. What would you say your father's sphere of influence is?" he asked critically. "Besides thieves, messenger and travelers."

"Well, I guess he's also the god of athletes, boundaries... and I think he's also the carrier of dreams." I said in wonder. "But what does that have to do with what's been happening to me?"

Then he gave out a sigh. "Tara, the reason you had that dream is because of your father. Most demigods don't choose the abilities that get passed down to them."

"But I don't play a lot of sports-"

"But you're on of the fastest at the camp, a damn good thief and you're good at projecting boundaries-or force fields."

" And what about hearing these noises?"

He gave me a knowing look. "Pan was Hermes's son wasn't he? As a god of travelers, you've got to know your surrounding…"

I leaned against a rock and whistled. It was a lot to take in.

"So whatever's doing this is a disturbance to nature and once again we're going to have to figure out what it is."

"Precisely." He said. For the first time, I noticed how much older he looked. Satyrs don't age as quickly as mortals, so he looked around eighteen when he could actually be forty. This thing must've really affected him.

"What do we do now, though?" I asked in anticipation.

"We wait. If anything comes up, I'll tell you." Then he smiled. "We'll figure it out from there. We always do."

"Thanks, Rollin."

I hugged him before leaving in the direction of armory on the other side of the forest. Once again, I bumped into someone. But I definitely wasn't expecting this person.

It was Sandi.

For some reason, my hand instinctively went to the back pocket of my pajama pants but I stopped just in time. She couldn't be that dangerous, could she?

"Um… good morning I guess." She muttered while eyeing me suspiciously. For some reason, that made my blood boil and I glared.

"Same." I said in a controlled voice. "What are you doing in the woods so early in the morning?"

She deflected the question with one of her own. "I could ask you the same thing."

"I was talking to a friend."

Then she relaxed a little and leaned against a tree. Just then I noticed that the buzzing in my ear had dimmed and my suspicion grew.

I usually take a walk in the woods every morning." She said calmly. "I guess it comes with being a daughter of the earth."

"That's nice." I said. She asked me about the demititan I had recruited and I told her. Maybe she isn't so bad…

"Listen, about Owen…" she began and then faltered a little. Maybe it was the expression on my face. A hint of anger and hurt. "I didn't know that he hadn't told you about me. I'm sorry if- if I caused any trouble."

"It's alright." I shrugged. "He's allowed to have his secrets and so am I."

"You mean Kade?"

A look of disbelief crossed went across my face as I stood there staring at her.

"He-he told you about him?" my voice shook. She looked at me concerned.

"Yeah. He mentioned something about you meeting him on the quest and… some other things-"

"He didn't tell me about you until now, but he told you about Kade?" I asked as anger shook my voice. She moved back a few steps.

"I didn't meant to-"

"It's fine. You're not the one I'm angry at." I went in the direction of the mess hall. "It was nice talking with you."

It was eight in the morning and the mess hall was full with hungry half bloods. I caught sight of Owen sitting at the Morpheus table and started towards him when a hand clamped down on my shoulder. I looked up too see Travis looking at me curiously.

"Didn't see you during cabin clean up." He said.

"I went for a walk. Sorry I missed it." I couldn't even meet his eyes. What was wrong with me?

I took a seat dejectedly and slowly ate my Honey Nut Cheerios. Not even its sweet flavor could pull me out of this slump. Just then Chiron stood up and began to give the announcements. He said the usual. No leaving the campgrounds under any circumstances. No stealing from the camp store ("Like I'm actually going to listen to that." Scoffed Connor). But then he said something that interested me.

"Recently there was an earthquake in San Francisco. We aren't sure what could have caused it, though Poseidon claims he had nothing to do with it. What really worries us is its strategic position near the Underworld."

"But the only known entrance to the Underworld is –"

"L.A. Yes. We know that Sophie." Snapped Mr. D. " But L.A isn't the only entrance into the Underworld. We believe that there might be an onslaught of monsters and other nasties pouring out, so those on recruiting missions, be on guard."

_Great._ I thought. _ I get to recruit and try to watch out for even __**more**__ monsters._

But this had made me even more confused. Hadn't the man in the dream tried to fall under the radar? maybe it was a coincidence. But then I caught sight of Sandi.

Or maybe it wasn't.

I didn't get more time to think about it. Just then, there was a dazzling flash of lights and then and woman with dark flowing hair and multicolored eyes came out. Without a second guess I realized that it was Iris, goddess of the rainbows. And she looked worried.

"Tara, you need to come with me." she said distressed.

"Wait, what?" I asked in alarm. She just shook her head and grabbed my arm.

"The gods have called a meeting and you've been summoned!"

And just like that, we were soaring so high in the sky. I thought I'd lose my breakfast. Everything was the size of ants and for a moment I imagined myself slipping form her grasp and plummeting to my death.

"Oh Zeus help me." I said as I started shaking.

In five minutes we were in front of the Empire State Building. She walked in, gave the doorman a hard look and waltzed into the elevator. She hit the button for the 600th floor.

Olympus was one of the most amazing places I had ever seen. It was a architectural work of art (No doubt made by Annabeth). It was Greek style, with all twelve of the thrones in a half circular pattern. They were all designed to suit each Olympians needs. There were other buildings that seemed to float in the sky and it was then I remembered what I was doing here.

The gods had called a meeting.

And it had something to do with me.

* * *

**Now, are meetings with the gods ever good? Not usually. But what do you think this particular meeting is about? And what do you think of Owen telling Sandi about Kade? A bit personal, I know. But it all comes together eventually. Review as always, feel free to leave you ideas and thanks for reading!**

**LT**


	6. Some Quality Time

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. Rick Riordan does. Duh!**

**Note: I looked for the meaning of Tara, just out of pure fun, and it's a Gaelic name for hill. Pretty suiting for someone who likes running, don't you think? And Owen is an Irish name for young fighter. Oh, this chapter's going to be a long one... enjoy**

Chapter Six Some Quality Time

At this thought, I spun back around and sprinted towards the elevator, scared for my well-being. I didn't even bother to take in the scenery around me (my life was probably at stake, so you have to understand my actions). All I wanted to do was get out, signal the nearest cab and get back to camp.

But Iris caught me by the back of my camp T-shirt and yanked me backwards. She had a surprisingly strong grip and I fell onto the cold marble floor.

"Really." She scowled. "I wouldn't have expected this from you, Tara Liana Rown."

I visibly cringed as she said my full name. Why do the gods have to know _everything_?

"Did they even tell you_ why_ they needed me?" I retorted, visibly annoyed. "I'm just a demigod."

Apparently I'm so humorous that Iris threw back her head and had a good laugh.

"Just a demigod?" she scoffed. "You saved the camp from one of the most deadly disease this world has ever encountered _and_ managed to double the size of the camp in one year."

I reddened a little. "It only sound good when you put it that way..." I muttered. Instinctively I pulled my camp necklace from under the shirt and looked at the bead. The symbol was a pale, sickly hand outstretched with a single flame- Prometheus' symbol. Also around my neck was another necklace with a dark blue gem that I'd gotten from Kade. It was broken in half, but I had never found out what it did...

Then she got a hold of herself and held my right arm. Without another word, she dragged me into the throne room.

The place was huge, lavishly decorated and inhabited by twelve of the most powerful beings the universe had ever seen.

It would've been an understatement to say I was intimidated.

Zeus sat in the middle, dressed in a blue and white pinstriped suit, with lightning literally rolling off of his body. After what happened with his son Alex and I (I punched him in the nose because he was being a jerk. Big deal), he didn't look too pleased to see me. Poseidon, in his Bermuda shorts and fishing hat, seemed a little annoyed. Hera sat on Zeus' side, but didn't seem too interested. I scanned over the many faces until I found the one with the salt and pepper hair and worried brown eyes.

" Hey Dad." I said while waving nervously. He gave a timid smile and all of the gods looked at me expectantly. That was confusing. What were they expecting me to do?

"Tara!" Iris whispered sharply besides me. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

I looked at her colorful eyes and furrowed brows. "What?"

She sighed and closed her eyes. "You're supposed to _bow_."

My eyes widened and I sent sheepish grin to the Olympians. I bowed low to each and every one of them (even Mr. D, who had arrived a few seconds before me and I still despised with a burning passion). Then I stood at the center, waiting to see what they had to say.

" You're the girl that went on the quest last year, correct?" Zeus boomed while pointed a finger at me. Well, _someone's_ being rude. But it would be politer to answer...

"Yes, that was me." I said cautiously. The last thing I needed was to be blown to smithereens.

"And it was your idea to build cabins for demititans." Mr. D added forcefully. Leave it to him to butt in at the worst of times.

" Yes and I did it because-"

"We've heard the story before, Tara." The grey-eyed Athena said seriously.

"Alright then." I said, my temper beginning to flare. "Maybe _you_ could tell me why I'm here."

She gave me one of those looks that could kill. Her grey eyes bore into my brown ones. It was unnerving, to say the least. But I refused to look away. I just looked at her nose instead (a pretty useful trick if you ask me).

"You're here because we're going to decide your fate." Glared Zeus. "Whether we should punish you for your actions or not."

...what?

"Are you serious?" I screeched, finally losing what little sanity I had left. "After everything I did, you're PUNISHING me. I didn't have a choice! It was a _quest_! What sense does that make?"

"It makes plenty of sense, you dim-witted idiot!" roared Dionysus. I have to admit. It was kind of funny to see him turn that red in such a short amount of time. He was like a large, round tomato. "You've got our kids surrounded by the sons and daughters of our enemies! And seeing as you've made Chiron and I swear on the Styx, we can't kick them out. But we can _definitely _punish you."

"Haven't you punished me enough?" I asked. By now I was visibly shaking and I couldn't control it. "How many campers that have only been there for a year do you send on recruiting missions? Demititans haven't done anything wrong. As a matter of fact, I think I could say that they've got it worse than us demigods."

Just then, my glance went to Zeus. After the Battle in New York, he hunted down a lot of demititans to get back at their parents who were probably hiding

"You've never talked to any of them and yet you judge them based on what their parents have done-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" roared Zeus. Thunder shook the throne room and lighting fell in several places. I yelped and twisted the green and white ring on my finger and it instantly turned into a shield. It wouldn't have been much help anyways, since it was made of iron. I soon realized this and hid behind Iris who, for some reason, was still here.

Iris rolled her eyes as some of the gods chuckled. Apparently they were used to these outbursts. As for me, I was miserable. So far, this summer sucked dracaena eggs and it didn't seem like it would get any better.

"I'm doing what I know is right." Zeus said after regaining his composure. " You've upset a very delicate balance between us and the titans. We were lenient when we accepted children of the minor gods. That should have been as far as it went! But like Dionysus said, your decision can't be overruled. Besides, they've come in such large numbers that there could have been one among them that's sided with the g-"

"Zeus!" Athena said in a warning tone. "There's no need to talk of that now."

"What is it?" I asked curiously. I wasn't sure why, but I was sure what Zeus was talking about had something to do with...

No. It would be better to wait and see.

"It isn't a very pressing manner." Zeus said, but the fact that he was wringing his hands told me a different story. He seemed worn out and I couldn't help but feel sympathetic. But then the big guy had to open his mouth again. " Now for your punishment."

_Dammit_, I thought. I was hoping he'd forget about it after his little slip up.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with that earthquake in San Francisco, would it?" I asked quickly, trying to advert their attention. "And my dream?"

At that, they all frowned- even Iris- and Dad looked at me with wide eyes.

"What did you see?" he asked anxiously.

"That ain't the point right now!" barked Ares. "What's the verdict? Do we make her feed my flame-eating horses? The last helper died from third degree burns-"

"No!" my dad snapped back. "That isn't as important. We're talking about another revolt on our hands. And at our most vulnerable-"

"We aren't vulnerable!" roared Zeus.

But what my dad said made me remember something.

"That's what the big guy in my dream said." I blurted out. "Something like 'the gods are weak from the war and the titans are, too'. And I think they've got allies..."

Now twenty-six eyes were all staring at me intently and I felt subconscious. They seemed grim and a little frightened.

"The monsters that escaped...have they allied with ... whoever it is that's revolting?" I said uncertainly. "They're going after the camp first and then...then they said they'd knock Olympus right out of the sky."

There was a silence so thick that I could hear the birds in the background. I definitely hadn't expected something like this. But now my fears had bee confirmed. There _was_ something going on and it was serious...

But did I want to know?

"This meeting has been adjourned." Grumbled Zeus. He shook his head and sighed. "I don't even understand _why_ I called this meeting."

_Neither do I,_ I thought silently agreeing with him.

The gods left their thrones to mingle with nymphs and the other residents of Olympus. While I was hiding behind her, Iris suddenly disappeared I a whirlwind of color.

"Did she _actually_ ditch me?" I said incredulously. How the Hades was I supposed to get back?

Grumbling, I went towards my dad who was talking to Aphrodite, hoping he could give me a ride or something. He is the god of traveling after all.

"Um... dad?" I said hesitantly. I hadn't talked to him since last summer. " I really should be getting back to camp..."

He looked at me confused before realization hit him. "Oh, right. Almost...almost forgot."

He looked worried and anxious, like he hadn't slept in weeks. "Dad, you don't look too good. What've you been doing?"

"That's the same thing I've been telling him." Piped in Aphrodite. She had a nice voice, nice face. Everything about her was nice. She put a hand on my father's shoulder and I felt my anger boil. "I've tried telling him to get his beauty rest-"

"The other gods have got me all over the place." He said with a grim smile. "They're trying to forge alliances from now because of the..."

My stomach plummeted a little. He hadn't mentioned who the culprits were, but the look on his face said it all.

"Would you mind telling me what's going on?" I said desperately. I'd rather know what I was up against than be in the dark about it.

He gave up with a sigh. "We think there's another threat along the way, but... Hades swore that they were being put under constant surveillance. There's been such a wave of dead coming in that it's gotten harder, so they could be reforming an army..."

Why the Hades can't anyone give me a straight answer?

"But who are _they_?" I asked frustrated and a little uncomfortable. Aphrodite was giving me some really weird looks...

"We think that the g-"

"Tara, are you having boy troubles?" the goddess of love asked out of the blue. All of a sudden, my dad's expression went from grim to furious and Aphrodite giggled a little. I was confused, embarrassed and a little annoyed.

"Wh-what do you mean by that?" I stuttered. The last thing I needed was for the gods to get an inside peek of my private life, _especially_ not my dad. But Aphrodite just smiled, like she knew something I didn't- which she probably did.

"Hm." She said twirling a lock of dark hair around her finger. I could tell she was trying to play dumb. It was working. "I've been keeping an eye on you-"

"Oh, dear gods-" I muttered.

"And I noticed that you've been fighting with... Owen, is it?" she said- still smiling. "Such a nice boy..."

I gripped the shield handle. I was still pissed at Owen for telling Sandi that. I specifically asked him not to say anything about him because I don't like people knowing my business. Is that so bad? You think you know someone...

"Could you get to the point?" I seethed.

" Well, there wasn't really a point." She said, suddenly looking confused. "I just think the overall story between the four of you will be just _scandalous_. Thought I should give you a heads up, that's all."

"The _four_ of us?" I asked frightened. "What? You don't mean Sandi, do you? What does she have to do with... with Kade?"

Instead of answering, she gave me a small, almost pitying, smile before walking away to talk to Ares.

"Kade?" my dad said curiously. "He's that- that boy you mentioned when you were in the Underworld, right?"

"Yeah. Um... can we leave now?" I asked pleadingly. It must've worked because he sighed and motioned for me to take his hand. I did and in a flash of light, we were in the lobby of the Empire State Building.

"Why didn't you just teleport me to camp?" I questioned. When I actually looked at him, he was wearing a polo t-shirt, shorts and a Yankees hat with small fluttering white wings on the side. He smiled.

"I thought we'd spend some... quality time together." He said warmly.

This can't be good.

Quality time together? He could've done that during winter break when I was at home taking care of Sawyer or spring break. And he's choosing now.

We walked a few blocks until we arrived at a parked Ford Fusion. It was a pretty nice car. Cobalt blue and a really nice interior. I went into the passenger seat and he went behind the wheel. The first half of the drive was pretty quiet. He just asked about school, Sawyer and Mom (Yeah, I'm glad he left Ryan out too). As soon as we were on the Williamsburg Bridge, I cut to the chase.

"Dad, I know you wanted to ask me about more than school." I said looking at him intently. Sometimes I wasn't sure how to act around him. I haven't seen him for most of this year and now he wants to talk. But then again, what was I supposed to expect? He is a god after all. " It'd be a lot easier if you just said it."

His shoulders drooped and he let out a sigh. As we got off the highway and into a small town, he parked near a mailbox.

"I need you to tell me everything about your dream." He said in a serious tone I had never heard him speak in before. So, I told him everything that I knew: the dream and the weird noises I hear near nature. I was thinking about telling him that I'd seen Sandi in the forest that same morning and the buzzing had stopped, but I decided against it. He furrowed his brows in concentration a gripped the wheel tightly.

"But why are _you_ having these dreams?" he asked worriedly. "I'd expect this from Percy or one of the older campers..."

"Well it's nice to know you have faith in me." I drawled sarcastically.

"Tara, if these signs are all pointing to what I think they are, you could all be in danger!" he barked angrily. But then his eyes softened. "And I do have faith in you. I don't want you getting hurt again. After what happened last year..."

I cringed a little when he mentioned it. Rollin, Owen and I got into a fight with these hyperborean giants in the Rockies and...I kind of plummeted thousands of feet in the air to my death. But no worries. The Lord of the Underworld used the Sword of Hades to bring me back. It still hurt though...

"Yeah, but it's not like I can avoid something like this, can I?" I pointed out while staring out the window. "Our futures are practically written out for us. That's what happened with Luke. He couldn't control his fate either-"

"Stop!" he said sharply. His face looked distraught and a part of the steering wheel snapped off. A vein in the side of his head began to pulse and he breathed deeply. "You don't know...what he went through...you wouldn't be able to understand..."

I wave of guilt came over me. His reaction was more than I bargained for. The car pulled away from the mailbox and was now driving at sixty miles per hour. I didn't start to speak for another hour.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled feebly. He just nodded and kept his eyes on the road. "I didn't know he was still a... touchy subject for you to talk about."

"It's alright." But he sure didn't sound like it. "And speaking of touchy subjects-"

"Oh, look!" I yelled hastily. " I can see the camp from here. Bye daddy!"

Without another word I shot out of the car and sprinted towards Thalia's Pine. The large dragon, Peleus, looked at me curiously before letting me through. I waved to the archers on guard duty hiding in the trees. The Big House came into view and I caught sight of Chiron and Mr. D sitting on the porch playing pinochle. Rollin and Owen were also standing by, waiting anxiously. But they saw me and Rollin ran towards me.

"Tara, what happened-" the satyr started.

"You just flew off with Iris-"

"We thought you were going to be executed or something-"

"But you're alright." Owen said relieved. "Anyways, what did they need you for-"

_SMACK_!

"Tara!" Rolling yelped in surprise. He looked at Owen holding his now red cheek and me glaring daggers at him. "What the Hades did you hit him for?!"

"He'll figure it out." I said smiling sweetly. I turned on my heel without another word. In the distance I heard Owen yelling.

"What did I do?"

"Maybe it's a girl thing. Mood swings and what not... Or that whole time of the month thing..."

I laughed all the way to my cabin, feeling a lot better, and a little worse, than I was before.

* * *

**Confusing? Yeah, it was meant to be. It's kind of hard to write and watch The Secret Life of an American Teenager marathon (this shows actually funnier than I expected). I won't update for like, another week or two. I hope you liked the bit at the end. Have a happy New Year!**

**LT**


	7. Thoughts and Words

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. Rick Riordan does. Duh!**

**Note: Sorry I haven't updated in a while. But summer vacation's started so I'll be updating more...hope you enjoy.**

**WAIT! Quick question. How would you picture Tara, Owen and any of the other characters in real life? i always though Owen would look like a young Chris Martin (or that could be just because of my slight obsessing with Coldplay). Feel free to tell me.**

**Also: This chapter will help those who need a bit of a recap of what's been going on and a hint as to what's about to happen. Hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 7 Thoughts and Words

After the meeting with the gods, I decided to take matters into my own hand- sort of. If Chiron or the gods wouldn't tell me what was going on then I would have to figure it out myself. The way I saw it, whatever was happening was going to affect the camp (It _always_ did) and I wanted to know what we'd be up against. But the moment I tried to return to my cabin the questions started.

You know them: the who, what, when, where and why questions they do in journalism. It's downright annoying.

"What did they say?"

"Are you gonna be punished or what?" Probably some flea-brained Ares kid.

"Is it because of what you did last year?"

"Ok," I snapped at no one in particular, "That was a quest that I had no control over so-"

"Does it have anything to do with the earthquake in San Francisco." My head turned in the direction of the clear and forceful voice. It was Annabeth. It seemed fitting that she would ask the smartest question. But something was bothering me...

"You wouldn't happen to know about..._It." _I asked tentatively. This is Annabeth we're talking about. She'd be the first person to know something like this. "Chiron or your mom didn't say anything about a new threat?"

The crowd of campers visibly stiffened at the mention, especially the newbies. The second Titan war had happened two years ago, but it was still fresh in everyone's mind. The daughter of Athena raised a blonde questioning eyebrow at me and her eyes narrowed.

"Nothing important." She said with her arms crossed. I winced at her accusing glare. But I happened to notice that she said 'nothing important' instead of 'nothing at all'. She knows something but she doesn't want to tell. I considered asking her but dropped the idea. "So what happened?"

Her stares are beyond bizarre.

"Sorry, I've been sworn to secrecy." I muttered before pushing past a few people with my head down. I absolutely hate being put on the spot so I was eager to leave. But a few demigods blocked my way in defiance.

"Maybe I didn't make myself clear." I tried to say with as much confidence as possible. "I've been sworn to secrecy by the _gods_, you know them. The really big guys who live forever and control our lives? Oh, _and _they're your parents. So if you want to ask them yourselves, be my guest."

I watched with smug satisfaction when the campers slowly backed away and returned to the Mess Hall. I looked at the watch my brother had bought me for my 13th birthday two years ago and my heart sank.

He still hadn't IMed me.

The thought sent my mind in a frenzy and my stomach plummeted. Had Ryan found the coins? Did Sawyer have trouble getting it to work?

No. Sawyer's ridiculously smart for a four year old.

And sneaky...which is why we get along so well.

But, as usual, I pushed the problem to the back of my mind and tried to focus on something else. It was around nine in the morning so the cabins of the minor gods and Olympians would be at the sword-fighting arena and the demititans would be at the archery practice. Either way, the cabins would be empty. So, I went over to the Coeus (Titan of Knowledge) cabin.

It was something like the Athena cabin- but this one wasn't riddling the traps for "those rodents from the Hermes Cabin", as they constantly referred to us. But instead of having workbenches, there were laptops and their library took up about every wall. The steady hum of the machines gave the room a peaceful atmosphere to think...almost like a library.

Yeah, I come here often to think. Most of the demititans don't mind me hanging around in their cabins...as long as I'm not there after dark. I always end up pulling them into one of my hair-brained schemes and landing them a month's worth of dish duty.

Grabbing a sheet of paper and a pencil from a filing cabinet, I settled at the desk and decided to write down my problems. It felt more effective than having them battling in my head. They were like a bunch of kids yelling at you, trying to gain your attention. These thoughts were the cause of my insanity... and my terrible moods.

Leaning back in the chair, I pondered which problems to sort out first. Believe me, there were enough to make me pull my hair out, so I sorted them into two huge groups: The problems that affected me directly and the problems that would affect camp.

I'm complete crap with emotional stuff. That's why I ask Megan to help me with those. She's an awfully good listener...when she isn't undressing every guy camper that passes with her eyes. But for a daughter of Aphrodite, she could take the head off of a dracaena with deadly accuracy so I had every reason to respect her. That and she seemed to be taking Owen' place as a friend.

Deciding to leave the personal problems for last, I wrote down the problem that was bothering me the most.

_Buzzing noises. Daughter of Hermes thing?_

I tapped the pencil against my head with my brows arched together. That was what Rollin had told me but I had asked around in my cabin and no one else had the ability. But then again, Lin's got a knack for duping people into buying things she steals for outrageous prices while I'm mediocre at it. It was supposed to signal a disturbance in nature, explaining why it got so loud when I was in the forest. But even then it didn't happen _all_ of the time. In fact, when I was in forest earlier that day it stopped when I saw Sandi...

And so we come to problem number 2...or 1a.

_1a) Sandi. Came around Christmas break (with no satyr). Buzzing noise. Suspicions. Daughter of Gaia, goddess of earth._

I had a lot to think about for _that_ one. For one thing, she had practically stolen my best friend away to be her boy toy. I barely see Owen alone anymore because they're always together. And you'd think that he'd be a bit more supportive of me because no one's heard from Kade and he hasn't contacted me-

Damn. See what I mean? Emotions. I really can't deal with that right now.

So I focused back to the basics. Sandi Castle (By Hermes' caduceus, with a name like that, how could you _not_ be suspicious?) was definitely as suspect in my book. Her mother was the earth goddess so she had to have something to do with the noises. But there wasn't enough evidence...

_2) Dreams. Maybe in the Underworld _(looked dark enough_). Huge beings hate Olympians (_What else is new?_). Had something to do with earthquake in San Francisco. An outpour of new monsters (_Crap_). Sandi's doing or theirs...or are they working together?_

"She can't be that powerful." I huffed angrily at the paper and I had a legitimate point. She was no child of the Big Three for the Olympians or the Titans. But I couldn't fight that nagging feeling. I also had to consider the fact that they were going to attack camp then Olympus.

Wow. Like no one could've seen that one coming. You'd think that after being "history's footnote' they'd come up with a less predictable strategy.

_3) Earthquakes in San Fran (one of them under Alcatraz Island), the Nazca Lines in Peru, Stonehenge in England and one under Mount Ararat in Turkey (_I don't even know where that is)_. Kind of frightening._

Honestly, the number of quakes had only gone up as the days passed. Wherever I went to recruit demititans, people were claiming the apocalypse was coming and the world was going to crack right down the middle, which is absurd. But no one else knows what's going on and if the gods do, they aren't telling...which is very irritating if you haven't noticed by now.

I just groaned and rested my exhausted head in my arms. This was all too much to think about. I wanted to tell someone else, but I knew my ideas would be shot down as conspiracy theories. It had only been two years since the second Titan War. Two years of trying to rebuild the lives they had lost before the mayhem started. There'd be no talk of war if the campers could control it.

Out of curiosity, I pulled a laptop and googled the different places where the earthquakes had occurred. Half of them were on the Western hemisphere while the others were on the Eastern. But if you tried connecting the dots where they had happened, a sideways rectangle formed and surrounded the Atlantic Ocean...

But what did it _mean_? Was it supposed to form some kind of sea monster? To do what? The creatures in my dreams had been trying to escape and-

"Gods, this is annoying."

The list suddenly looked like a meaningless sheet of paper. I probably had all of the pieces together, but trying to make sense of them was the real mystery. It was like playing Where's Waldo. It's right in front of you, but you can't see it...

I sighed glumly, turned the paper over and wrote down the first name that came to my mind.

_Sawyer_.

It seemed so unfair that I had to leave him with nothing to do over the summer, not that I was enjoying mine either but you get the point. He hadn't Iris-messaged me at all and it was worrying. Sawyer could do it though.

_Maybe he doesn't want to talk to you._ I thought glumly and I couldn't help but feel depressed. This was probably some way to get back at me for not even sending a letter to him last year and I deserved it. If I tried IMing and he was at work with my mom, I'd get in trouble. There's always a chance of a mortal who can see through the Mist.

_He'll figure it out_. I told myself though slightly doubtful.

I blinked back the tears that threatened to spill onto the page before writing another name.

_Owen._

I shouldn't really have to recap what he's done to piss me off royally, but I'll do it anyway to blow off some steam. First of all, he's been seeing someone for about seven months, which is the longest he's taken to tell me about one of his girlfriends. If I hadn't walked in on him and Sandi, he probably wouldn't have told me at all. Then he goes and tells said girlfriend about an aforementioned person that I don't like to talk about. And he _knows_ that I don't like to talk about him, so why the Hades would Owen do that?

Not to mention the fact that he promised not to let anything ever come between us as friends-fat chance now...

_Sandi._

A suspicious, friend-stealing, sneaky-looking possible enemy of the gods. 'Nuff said.

_Kade._

Ok...As I said before, I'm not very good with my feelings, so talking about him was pretty difficult-to say the least.

I got that sinking feeling whenever I saw something that reminded me of him, like a ferry boat or a James Bond movie...or the fact that he eyes were the exact color of the ocean. Forgetting him was as hard as getting me to learn how to swim- I just couldn't do it. And he insisted that when I wrote his name down, I would spell it with a K instead of a C. It was always the little things...

"_What's the difference?" she had asked bemused. Then he gave that calm and confident, smile, as if he knows something that she doesn't._

"_K is a less common letter in the alphabet than C." He leaned in so that she could count the number of beads on his necklace. "And I'm probably one of the least common guys you'll ever meet."_

"_Ok, slightly cheesy, but it worked." She said blushing slightly. Two could play at that game. "And why should I believe that about a _boy_ I just met?"_

_Kade frowned at her choice of words but switched right back to his lazy smile. He pulled her so close to him that Tara had to look up in order to meet his eyes. Despite their close proximity, it seemed like he had no intention of letting her go and his eyes showed it. Forget the fact that they were in the middle of a public park where anyone could see them. All that mattered at that moment was the park bench they were sitting in, the tree they were sitting under and each other._

"_How about I show you why?"_

_By now, she was having trouble breathing... and forming a coherent sentence._

_Not that she'd let him know that._

_Just to toy with him, she leaned so that her lips were centimeters from his. Every fiber of her being was telling her to just get it over with, but she caught sight of the excitement in his eyes and she just grinned._

"_Maybe later." She whispered and he rose an eyebrow. But, being the gentleman he was, decided not to push the matter. _

"_You're a tough cookie to crack, Tara Rown." He said chuckling and the arm he had around her shoulder relaxed. _

So, yeah. Of all the guys I've ever met, he's left the biggest impression on me. I don't know if it was the way he could seem so sure of himself when he tries to be suave-even though he looked like a complete clown. It actually _works_ on me because he's got the killer smile to pull it off.

But he hasn't tried to contact me yet.

Every time I tried IMing him, the water would just form a blurry image followed by, _"We're sorry. The person you are trying to contact is currently unavailable."_ I swear, it happened every freaking time.

But there was always that thought that lingered in the back of my head, telling me that maybe he didn't make it. I refused to believe that. He had almost ripped the head off of a hellhound, for Zeus' sake! He couldn't be _dead_.

"He isn't." I said to myself as confidently as I could. "He's fine."

When I think about it, this is another thing that's Owen's fault. If he had just let him come along with us, then I wouldn't be worried sick right now.

I almost threw the laptop against the walls at the thought.

_Marshall._

The twelve-year old worried me. His and Caitlin's birthday had passed a week ago and he hadn't even bothered to get out of bed. He always seemed unsure of himself-kind of like me on my first day at the camp. But he was practically a recluse. Campers picked on him non-stop and he never seemed able to defend himself. How his twin sister was fierce enough to break someone's nose at a dirty glance while her brother could only look away astounded me. But compared to everyone else, his problems didn't' seem so bad...

"That's it!" I exclaimed out loud. Of all the things going on in my head, Marshall's problems were the one's I could fix easily. I remember getting a mental list of his bullies earlier that month. I leapt out of the chair, stuffing all of the notes in my pocket.

In a way, Marshall was like the replacement for Sawyer. He gave me a reason to fight for. Sure, I was depressed as Hades and nothing seemed to being going my way, but if I could help this kid with his problems, maybe mine would lessen as time went by. I considered it a late birthday present.

After 'buying' a few supplies from the camp store, I sprinted to the secret stash of banned items that were hidden in kitchen cellar. It was a well-kept secret in the Hermes Cabin.

The best way to get out of a slump is to do something you love best. For me, pranking is one of them.

It felt good to pound my feet against the earth without having to worry about what could be under it. For now, I was free from my own issues and it was all that mattered.

Sprinting back to the cabin, I had a sudden tingling feeling run down my back. I frowned in dismay.

It's the feeling a thief gets when they know they're being watched or about to get caught.

In my case, it was both.

I listened to the faint, careful footsteps behind me. No one else should have been around the cabins. Unless...

"Crap." I muttered nervously. With whatever energy I had left, I sprinted towards my cabin. Campers of the opposite gender weren't allowed to be in a cabin alone. It was forbidden...well, only the younger kids listened, to tell you the truth.

The reason I was freaking out so much was because the last thing I wanted to do was get caught by Darius Scott. See, towards the beginning of the summer, Chiron and Dionysus had appointed him as 'Warden' because apparently "The pranks have gone too far this year." I don' think he appreciated the replaced portrait of Achilles that we put in his room.

I personally think the warrior looks dashing in a pink and yellow armor with clown make-up.

Darius was the one who accompanied the Prometheus twins, Caitlin and Marshall, on the trek back to camp. He had a really scary way of getting the truth out of you. Some say it was the way his unusual silver eyes that made you talk or the way he asked the question. Either way, most pranksters gave up before they had the chance.

The worn out cabin inched closer as I willed my legs to keep going. If I could get in before he arrived than he'd be stuck out there waiting. And then-

"Tara," he said right by my ear, "Why aren't you in the arena with the other demigods?"

I yelped in surprise and turned around to see him smirking. He must've moved pretty fast to keep up with me. Then I made the mistake of looking into his eyes. As if the intimidation behind them wasn't bad enough, I was suddenly remembering every prank I ever pulled along with every item I ever stole.

It scared the living Hades out of me.

"So what's in the bag?" He folded his arms across his built chest and leaned against the wall of my cabin. He had all the time in the world.

I got this weird pang in my chest and I fought the urge to answer. The only thing that came out of my mouth was a half garbled sentence.

"I'm sorry." he chuckled. "What was that?"

_You're a daughter of Hermes, damn it!_ I thought ferociously. _LIE!_

But I couldn't. For the first time in my life, I couldn't figure out what to say. That's a shock for someone who likes to mouth off a lot.

He waited expectedly.

"Ok, fine." I spat out angrily. The sudden euphoria of a few minutes ago wore off. "Yeah, I was pulling a prank." Then I tried to think of another way to get out of the situation.

I used a little trick called Lure to make the pupils of my brown eyes widen slightly. It's a technique that a lot of famous children of Hermes-turned spies- used to disguise or make themselves more believable.

I could feel the strain that it was placing on my eyes and winced in pain. "Can I at least keep them? It'd be a shame to throw away the things I just bou-"

He glared at me.

"-erm, borrowed." I finished lamely.

He just shook his head and made a grab for the bag. "Justice is blind, Tara."

"I did it for Marshall." I said quickly. "Some kids were picking on him and I thought I'd teach them a lesson."

His demeanor, which had been authoritative, was now stiff and angry.

"What do you mean? How did I not notice this?" Then his eyes and voice softened considerably. "Is...is Abby alright?"

"Abby?" I asked perplexed. "Isn't her name Caitlin?"

He shuffled uncomfortably where he stood and said, "Yeah. Caitlin Abigail Damon. Abby is just this...nickname I have for her."

I raised a questioning eyebrow at him. It struck me as odd that Caitlin would only let Darius give her nicknames and only Abigail could call him Darry. That and the 'Warden' didn't seem all too concerned about Marshall. I remember Megan telling me during one of our emotional sessions (Don't judge me!) that maybe-just maybe- he liked her.

"Haha, Abby and Darry." I chuckled smugly. "Isn't that interesting."

His eyes narrowed. "What does that mean?"

Again, there was a weird pang in my chest and I knew it had something to do with him. "Would you stop that? What if you give me a heart attack?"

He looked away slightly embarrassed and I can't help but roll my eyes. "No. I know absolutely nothing about your awkward crush on your boss' twelve-year-old daughter. But you should at least try to pay a bit more attention to Marshall. I'm sure _Abby_ can wait a few minutes."

You see what I mean about mouthing off?

Ok...maybe that was bit much. His eyebrows arched into a perfect V on top of his forehead and his mouth formed a straight line. He looked ready to knock me into next week. I could practically hear him counting to ten inside of his head. I had been told that he had temper issues.

He sighed before running a hand through his chestnut brown hair. " I don't have any feelings for Abigail-I meant Caitlin-"

"Don't you mean Abby?" I reply cheekily.

"I'm just here to protect them both." He said firmly. "That was the job I was given and that's what I intend to-"

"How old are you again? Nineteen?"

That's when his eyes widened in surprise and his eyebrows had now disappeared under his hair.

"What the fu-Are you high or something?" he shouted with disbelief. "I'm _fifteen_, you nut job!"

I'm pretty sure my mouth formed a perfect 'O' at that moment. The fact that I was the same age as this guy but had practically strain my neck in order to meet his eyes kind of disturbed me.

I took the time to look him over. He was at least six foot four and believe me, this guy was jacked. I'm not trying to discredit the other campers that train hard, but comparing them to him was kind of like comparing the Yankees to the Mets; there wasn't much of a contest. He could probably take on some of the older campers if he wanted to and he had enough scars to be a seasoned veteran.

"B-but you're-" I waved my hands at his physical appearance, hoping he'd get the point. " You're all tall and scarred and-"

"I know that." He growled angrily. "Which is exactly the reason why I barely talk to anyone here but the twins. No one wants to be around a guy who could probably break their necks but isn't even old enough to vote. It makes them feel awkward and _believe_ me, I feel the same way, too."

Now it was my turn to be embarrassed. "I didn't mean for it to sound like that..."

Without another word he turned on his heel and went back to the Big House, but not before saying,

"Get 'em good, Tara."

Breathing out a sight of relief, I went into my messy cabin and went to work. Brandon Winchester and Kirk Daniels were in for a very unpleasant surprise...

Ok. I know. I've been a really bad fanfic writer. I haven't reviewed in months but I needed the time to look over the story, characters and make a very frighteningly good plot-line. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. i'm already halfway through the other one where Tara has a major meltdown. It'll be good.

Thanks for reading and as always review (even if it is just to yell at me for taking so long).

LT


	8. In Which Things Go Horribly Wrong

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. Rick Riordan does. Duh!**

**Note: Sorry I haven't updated in a while. But summer vacation's started so I'll be updating more...hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 8 In Which Things Go Horribly Wrong

With half of the day already gone, I couldn't help but admire my work from the roof of my cabin. The two sons of Hecate were caked with shaving cream that I had mixed in with red Gatorade that Reiss (their own brother) and I threw from trees as they passed.

I even left some over for Mr. D. Hehe...

Ok, yes. I missed the majority of my activities that day (and by most, I mean all of them), but I'm sure Ben and Lin covered for me. Even if that didn't work, the Stoll brothers are pretty lenient about that kind of thing. Kids in our cabin skipped class all of the time. It certainly hadn't been my first.

Having wasted most of the day away, I went into the Mess Hall, almost happy to see the overcrowded and obnoxiously loud group of demigods surrounding me. With a grin, I took my regular seat near the end, but not far enough to fall off. Ben, our resident court jester, was entertaining the members of our table with a reenactment of the look on Parker Carver's face when he realized that there was a lot more than hamburger meat in his sandwich.

"It was like looking at a deer caught in headlights!" he cackled wildly. He caught his breath and took the time to push his untamed brown hair out of his eyes. "And then- and then his cheeks swelled and he practically projectile vomited it... right onto his girlfriend!"

I have to admit. Some Mountain Dew did come out of my nose when he said this.

"And how are you doing on this fine evening, Madame?" He turned to me, his hazel eyes bright and playful. By now, he had settled down and was stirring his noodle soup with a _fork_.

Yeah, Ben's like that most of the time.

"Well, Big Ben," I replied in an equally posh British accent. "It was rather crappy at first, but it turned out alright."

There was a flicker of annoyance in his eyes when I called him by my personal nickname for him, but it was replaced by his silly lopsided grin even though it looked a little forced. Ben's originally from England, but you couldn't tell by the way he hid his accent. He had a pretty rough time getting to camp, but when he did, all he had to show for it were a few crumby jokes and a killer laugh. Bu the real reason he got a little peeved about it was that because he wasn't really that tall- an inch or two shorter than I was. So the name was a oxymoron he didn't really like.

"Aw, I was just kidding with you, Benji." I said softly. I even ruffled his hair so he'd get the point. "No hard feelings?"

He just rolled his eyes and flicked a noodle at me...which landed directly on my nose.

Translation from one Hermes sibling to another: Ok, I won't leave any pleasant surprises in your sleeping bag.

The rest of dinner went pretty quietly after that. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Rollin chatting with some campers from the Demeter Cabin. Farther away, Owen was unsurprisingly talking with Sandi. She was looking at his noticeably pink cheek with, dare I say it, annoyance. By the look of it, Owen was pretty peeved, too. His mouth was a solid line on his face and he glared at everyone that passed by.

But while I enjoyed the sudden turn of events, a boy with midnight black hair and unhealthily pale skin walked towards me.

It was Marshall.

Immediately, this urge to figure out what was wrong overcame me. I hate seeing him so upset. He had to leave his dad from such a young age to come to a 'safer' place. But as far as I could see, being at camp had only made him miserable.

"You ok?" I said with worry etched in my wavering voice. Looking into his eyes was like getting lost in a pool of unending blackness. The rest of the cabin watched him tentatively, as if he were about to lunge forward.

He didn't even need to tell me, because I already knew he needed someone to talk to. Without another word, I got up and followed him to kitchens where the harpies worked. Luckily, it was empty now.

I thought about what he could need to talk about. Homesickness? He had Abigail-Oops. I meant Caitlin- and Darius for that. His dad? There wasn't much I could do about that one. Iris messaging was out of the question for fear that Prometheus would be tracked. Bullies? I had already taken care of that...at least two of them.

"I think I might've seen something." He said shakily. "The new threat that my father would always mumble about when he was working."

"_And believe me. Having them at camp may prove to help you in the near future."_

That's what Prometheus had mentioned to me in his lab last year. Immortals don't say things without meaning and that was proof of it. Whatever was going on, the titan had known that bringing demititans in from camp would help...particularly his own son.

I tried to calm myself down. There was no more hope of avoiding the situation because chances were it was going to keep rearing it's ugly head whenever things started to go right. Swallowing my fear and dejection, I nodded for him to go on.

"I was in arts and crafts just minding my own business and then there was this weird flash of light." He clenched his fists in fear and his voice shook. "I was expecting to just see myself getting beat up by some kid again, but this time it was different. We were in camp but it was near Zeus's Fist. The ground wouldn't stop shaking...like earthquake-shaking and then the rock by the Fist just cracked right down the middle.

I could've sworn it was one of the Hephaestus cabin's machines gone haywire, but then the earth just gave way and monsters just started crawling out of the ground. Theses were bigger than the usual and to make matters worse this huge _hand_ reached out and-"

"Did it say anything?" I interrupted.

"Not that I could hear." He replied perplexed. "But the weird part was that camp was _empty._ Not even the satyrs were there. The monsters started trashing the place and burning everything they could and then...then it ended."

"I though you could only see future events about yourself." I said. A painful lump had formed in my throat and refused to leave.

"So did I, Tara."

"I'm sure...I'm sure we can talk to Chiron about this-whoa." I leaned back startled. "Marshall, you feelin' alright?"

The boy's usually somber eyes were now alarmed and widened with fear. His sharp intake of breath and quick draw of a crude looking dagger confirmed that someone unwanted was near by.

Turning my back to Marshall, I saw Brandon and Kirk, the guys I had pranked earlier, coming towards us.

_Hmm...maybe they aren't as stupid as they look._

"What, these guys?" I said with a scoff. "Already taken care of."

But he just shook his head vigorously and kept a grip on his dagger. I sighed in resignation and pulled out Kleftis.

This was turning out to be a very annoying day.

"Hey, Damon." The blondie, Kirk, said with an angry glint in his eye. "We need to talk to you for a moment."

At first, I'm a little peeved that they've just ignored that fact that I'm standing _right there_ and had the audacity to openly pick on the kid.

" So." I said casually. "Did you have fun picking Gatorade-flavored shaving cream out of your hair?"

Both boys jerked their heads in my direction in surprise and slight disgust. They're probably ashamed to know that a _girl_ pranked them.

"That was you?" the brown-eyed one seethed. "I thought it was the pipsqueak..."

Ok...maybe they _are_ as stupid as they look.

"Yup...with a little help from your brother." I said cheerfully. But I immediately tensed when he took a step towards me. Blondie held him back.

"You aren't honestly about to fight her, are you?" he said with a hint of worry. "We're only after the kid and she's just a girl."

Really?

"Wow, what a gentleman." I drawled sarcastically. "You're not willing to fight a girl, but it's okay to humiliate a kid two feet shorted than you? Classy."

Blondie's eyes narrowed and he drew a long gnarled staff from a sheath on his back. Etched into the wood were runes.

"Oh no!" I cried out in mock fear. "He's going to hit me over the head with a stick! The _horror_!"

Of course, once my mouth starts to run, it can never seem to stop and this case was no different. The way I saw it, if I couldn't be happy, then neither should they.

" You know what?" Blondie said, taking a few steps closer. " It's low life trash like you who spend their days making other people miserable that really pisses me off-"

"Aren't you one to talk-"

"The only reason people even know who you are is because of what happened last year and that was partly _your fault_!" he roared back. "Just do us all a favor and just go back into that rat hole you call the Hermes cabin and hop off!"

"Do you honestly _like_ sticking up for filth like him? Do you know what his father did during the second war? His kind shouldn't even be here but thanks to you, they are!" He spat with anger. "You have no idea how much special treatment they're getting just because of who their parent is. It's pathetic!"

"You're such a hypocrite!" I shouted. "Your mother, who's Hecate if you can't remember, fought on the same side as Prometheus, you pathetic troll! Her side lost and so did you, so apparently it's alright to make everyone feel as crappy and humiliated as she does, right?"

By now blondie's rage was so great that a vein on the side of his head was now visible.

" _Don't _talk about her like that!"

"Oh, get _over_ yourself!" I said with exasperation. " Maybe if you weren't so self-centered, you'd realize that Marshall's got to put up with more than any demigod, including you. So, please, do _us_ all a favor, pull your head out of your ass and get lost!"

"Would you shut that hole in your face and move out of the way?" his sibling barked in annoyance. "Kirk, let's go. This isn't even worth it-"

He never got time to finish the rest of that sentence because I sent him flying into a tree with a thrust of the hand. He cried out in surprise before falling to the ground with a resounding _thump_. Kirk's eyes widened in shock and then narrowed in fury.

Hands clutch tightly around the stick he called a staff, Kirk shot a string of green light towards Marshall. Using my reflexes, I formed a small invisible boundary around him that deflected the spell. The dull pain that usually started when I used my ability was growing and I had to stop myself from collapsing.

"Marshall, stay back!" If it was a fight he wanted, it was a fight he was going to get.

Gritting my teeth, I visualized him as a human target, making his chest the bull's eye mark, and gathered all of my energy into my right hand. When I brought it over my shoulder and sent it in his direction, a dark blue shield sprung from his staff and it dissipated. I pushed the button on Kleftis and my lightweight sword emerged.

I waited for Kirk to pull out a sword or something but he just stood there with a set jaw. I smirked at this sudden realization.

He didn't _have _one. He thought that he'd only need his staff to fight.

I charged towards him at full speed, making sure to deflect his spells so that there was no chance that Marshall would be hit, even though the effort was giving me a major headache.

_Think of Sawyer._ I thought. _ You'd do this for him, wouldn't you?_

When I was close enough, I hacked downward but he met my strike with his staff. I kicked him as hard as I could in the chest but he _grabbed my leg _and pulled me down with him. I winced as my legs did an awkward split but pushed myself forward and tackled him to the ground. Somewhere in the fray, we both lost our weapons and had to fight using only our hands.

He yelled out just about every curse in Greek and English that I know before I took the time to hammer him in the jaw. He pulled my hair and flipped me over so that stars exploded in front of my eyes when my head connected with the ground.

"Stop."

But the quiet request fell on deaf ears as we both went at it again with renewed vigor. We had both gotten off the ground but Kirk, the larger of us both, decided to start swinging at me, but I dodged his sluggish movements. His frustration grew with every missed hit and I took the opportunity to hit him in his jaw again, just to make him angry.

I honestly don't know what had come over me. I almost never got angry-at least not to this degree. The one tiny problem I thought I could fix and now this. It was times like these that made me feel unbelievably useless.

So I kept swinging, biting, kicking and head-butting as much as I could (C'mon. You know I never play fair) until I finally hit the one spot every guy fears the most.

His eyes bugged as he cried out before collapsing to the ground in a crumpled heap. To my horror and disgust, he almost threw up on my shoe, my momentary blind anger almost forgotten.

But Blondie still had a few words for me. Agony still in his eyes, he raised his head, teeth bared, and spat at me.

He struggled to talk, but he eventually coughed a few words.

"You...stupid..._bitch_!"

I stood rooted to the spot as I felt the temperature rise. Without another word I rammed my foot into his side. He shouted out and there were a few tears coming down his face. I get ready to yank his hair back when I feel a hand grab my shoulder and throw me to the ground with such inhumane strength that I'd already ruled out the possibility of it being Marshall.

As my head connected to the hard forest ground, I groaned in pain. Great. To add onto the cuts and bruises on the side of my face, I might have brain damage. Wonderful.

"I-I said stop!"

Looking up, I realized that it was a life-sized clay dummy that had stopped me. I bristled when I realized it had no face, just indents where the eyes should have been. I turned my head to look at Marshall.

"Marshall...did you summon this thing?"

The poor kid looked ready to throw up. His usually pale skin was clammy and he was wiping his face. In his right hand were a few glowing strings that I realized were attached to the dummy. I tried to lighten the mood.

"Looks like you're your dad's kid after all, huh?"

He didn't reply. I hadn't expected him to.

"Look, Marshall, I'm sorry." Suddenly I was pleading and I didn't know why. " I was angry and they were being complete ass- I mean jerks. I just..."

Just what? What logical excuse could I come up with for almost killing someone-let alone another demigod.

"Could you just forgive me?" To my surprise, my throat was beginning to tighten and I felt like crying. I never cry.

He just nodded his head. "Let's just go back to lunch. They'll be alright."

I took one last look at the two sons of Hecate, who were being leant against a tree by Marshall's clay dummy. Kirk had passed put and they both looked asleep. I had a feeling we were going to be all right.

"How'd you do it?" I asked curiously as we walked away. Now wasn't the right time to talk about the vision. "That thing with the dummy was amazing!"

He blushed at the compliment and rubbed the back of his neck shyly. "I've been practicing for a while in the forest, during lunch and stuff. I figured that if I can't use swords or bows that I'd make a weapon of my own." Then his dark eyes lit up with excitement. " I've been working on summoning at least ten at one time but I always end up passing out."

At this rate, he could almost be as good as his sister. "Just keep practicing." I encouraged. "Everyone's got their own gifts...and if you ever have any more visions-"

"WHAT THE HADES HAPPENED?"

I immediately cringed at the sound of a voice that would surely have me cleaning dirty dishes for a year: Mr. D.

I had hope though. Mr. D was behind us and if we kept walking near the shadows of the tress we'd be out of sight.

Of course, nothing ever does seem to go the way I want it to.

It only took exactly ten seconds for him to bellow in an inhumane voice.

"YOU HORRIBLE-"

"Tara Rown, what in Zeus' name were you thinking?" This time it was Chiron who was angry and that made me feel a little guilty. Chiron was tolerable, but the oversized grape-not so much.

To make matters worse, the entire camp had come over to see what the commotion was about. Sighing from exhaustion, I retold the past events, leaving out the part about Marshall's vision. The last thing I needed was for them to start suspecting him. Demititans had a bad reputation as it was.

"So... you knocked them out?" Big Ben asked undecidedly.

"Pretty much." Then he grinned.

"Brilliant."

Apparently the others didn't see it that way. They stared with unhidden distrust and fear. I swear, people can be so fickle. I save them form a deadly disease during my first year and I'm a hero. Bu if I knock one of them (or in this case two) out, then I'm a crook.

In the sea of faces, I caught sight of Owen's tall frame and dark curly hair, staring at me in worriedly. To my surprise though Sandi is nowhere near him. In fact she's on the other side of the crowd with a scowl on her face.

_Whatever_. I think. _I'm done with this._

With my bunk in mind, I turn towards my cabin, ignoring the stares as I go by.

"Where do you think you're going?" Mr. D shouts in disbelief. Have I ever mentioned how much of a cherry he resembles when he's angry?

"To sleep." I said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then I turn to Marshall. "Goodnight."

"Ok, look here, you little snot-"

"No _you_ look here, you overgrown grape!" I whirled back around to face him. There was a good fifty feet between us. All of a sudden the wind started to pick up and forest creatures started to howl. "This is partly your fault!"

"_My_ fault?"

"Yes, your fault!" I hissed dangerously. " If you hadn't forced me to do recruiting duty, _maybe_ I wouldn't always be in such a bad mood! If you and the rest of the gods would tell me what the fuck's going on, _maybe_ I wouldn't feel so stressed out because- let's face it- I _know_ I'm going to get dragged into it somehow. I always do! And MAYBE, just maybe, if you actually tried stopping demitians from getting beat up all the time, I wouldn't feel the need to stick up for them myself. _Maybe_ I wouldn't have knocked those two idiots unconscious!"

But who knows right?" I said almost maniacally. "Because as far as you're concerned it isn't your problem, right? It's mine because it was my idea in the first place. Never mind I did it to SAVE everyone-"

"Tara." I saw Owen move to the front of the crowd, trying to get closer to me. I can never really tell what he's feeling, but right now, his blue-grey eyes were filled with pity. I remember when we were younger and had decided to try climbing this elm tree in our neighborhood park. I ended up breaking my arm and because we had snuck out late, no one was there to help. But he just held me even though I hadn't wanted his help and carried me all the way back home.

Then I remembered two years ago when we had to hide in some store because of Typhon. We didn't know anything about the gods then, but he still made sure I was all right. Whether I wanted him to or not, Owen would always try to comfort me.

But I didn't want him to. Not this time.

"No." I tried to say but my voice still quivered. "You don't get to talk to me. You 'forget' to tell me about your girlfriend for seven months and then when I needed someone to talk to, you were _never there_! Because you were always with HER!

Just then, his face contorted in anger.

"'I was never there?'" he seethed. "I've been with you since the beginning! Everything that happened: Last summer. Your step-dad-"

"Shut up!" I shouted. "Just stop-"

My step-dad was a jerk, as I previously mentioned. But sometimes he could be a very violent jerk when no one else was around.

"No! I was there for you as much as you let me be!" Now he was shouting. "You're the one avoiding me! Just because you're jealous-"

"I am NOT jealous!"

"-doesn't mean you have to make everyone else miserable. You were ready to be with some guy you'd barely known for one day and the whole time you ignored me-"

"ONE DAY!" I screeched and suddenly people started to back up in alarm, some of them already unconscious because of Owen's fury. " I only got to know him for one day because you thought he was some kind of threat to our friendship even though I've had to put up with your numerous 'girlfriends' from day one-"

"You're no different than I am!"

" The only guy I really liked... and you wanted him gone." By now my anger was spent and I felt empty. Owen looked away and shoved his hands in his pockets, something he always did when he knew he was wrong.

"I though I was protecting you-" He didn't sound angry anymore either.

"You told me no guy or girl would ever come between us as friends." He looked up with wide eyes, remembering the conversation we'd had on the beach last summer. My voice suddenly breaks and I feel weak again. I hate feeling weak. "Do you remember that, Owen?"

He didn't reply that time. He just stared with sad eyes. By now I registered that half of the camp was still staring at us in shock while the others had passed out on the ground. I didn't want to look at anyone- especially the people I knew. So without another word, I turned in the direction of my cabin, refusing to look back.

The only thing in my head by the time I collapsed onto my bed was how much of an epic fail the day had been. And the worse part?

Tomorrow wasn't looking any better.

Not bad... Hope you liked it. Did I portray her emotions the right way? Did what Owen and Tara say surprise you? As always: REVEIW! And get others to review.

NEXT CHAPTER: We get to see one of Tara actually talk to someone about her emotions- Megan-a very interesting character for a daughter of Aphrodite. And If you don't remember who she is... well she's a bit new, but I mentioned her in the previous chapter.

OH! And Tara gets to talk to her little brother again. I'll update soon.

LT


	9. Just Talk to Me

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. **

Chapter 9 Just Talk to Me

Take my advice. If you ever feel the need to yell at someone in public, go ahead. Just DON'T do it at a place like Camp Half Blood. It sucks.

For one thing, almost everyone avoided me like the Plague, as if I would blow up in their faces if they tried to say "Hi". Honestly, the next day I walked towards the Mess Hall and the Ares Cabin (the ARES cabin!) literally parted like the Red Seas to let me through. It would've gone in as one of my crowning achievements if I weren't so glum.

What Marshall had said really got to me. Before the threat was just speculation and suspicion, but with concrete evidence being thrown in my face, there was no way I could avoid it. Whatever planned on attacking camp and Olympus was coming...and it would be soon. At least now the rest of the camp knew...sort of.

Oh. I wasn't punished for the fight with the sons of Hecate since (technically) I had been defending Marshall. I wasn't going to tell the whole story and neither would they- if they know what's good for them.

After the huge blowout, it seemed like only Megan and Marshall were the only ones I could stand to be around, as selfish as it sounds. I still felt crappy about what I'd done in front of him, so I offered to teach him a few pointers with a short sword. I'm not much of a master swordfighter compared to people like Percy, but Marshall seemed to like it when I taught him...and it gave me another distraction.

"_Don't hesitate." I told him in the arena. She goes for a quick jab to his unprotected right side but he flinches before raising the shield to block. "If you do that, you give the opponent the advantage."_

"_The only reason I'm hesitating," he panted while slashing at my knees. "Is because I can already see what's going to happen-unless it's changed."_

"_Good!" I grinned. "If you've got the gift, use it. There aren't rules in a real battle. Remember that."_

_This made him pause for a second and I took the opportunity to hit him in the chest with the shield. Nothing fatal. He fell onto the sand floor and stared._

"_See what I mean about pausing?"_

"_So if I see myself losing really badly even after I've changed it, what happens then?" He brushed his dark hair away from his eyes in curiosity._

"_...You get out as fast as you can." He smiled at me and shook his head._

"_I figured you'd say something like that."_

"_Yeah, well I'm expecting you to do it, Flinch." He looks at me with a raised eyebrow before smiling and picking himself up._

That had been a week after the...argument. Now it was July 1st. I had recruited about fifteen demititans, some more resistant than others, fought more monsters than I'd like to admit and was no closer to finding out what the threat was. Usually I don't obsess overstuff like this, but it was going to come back to bite me in the ass if I didn't at least try to figure out what was going on so I put time into it.

I was at my wits end about Sawyer, though. It made me sick just thinking about how bored he'd be without me to talk to.

Wait. Maybe that's why he hasn't called. Because he's found some other snot nosed toddler to talk to instead of his big sis. Jeez, now that burns a hole in your heart.

To top it all off, the one person I would have liked to talk to about this the most isn't speaking to me because...gods, I'm not even sure why anymore.

So, in a drive effort to deal with my screwy emotional problems, I was sitting on the roof of the Big House (Don't ask how we got up there unnoticed. You wouldn't believe me.) with Megan Valence, daughter of Aphrodite. Before, she had always been a good friend of mine, but the absence of Owen helped me realize how much of a great friend she could be.

She loves pranks (a big no-no in with her siblings), boys and can hold her own in a fight. That... and she's my personal shrink-though not by choice. But on the good day, she seems like the sister I never had.

For that sunny first of July day, she was allowing me to vent my frustrations about Owen, Sandi or both at the same time. As usual the weird chest ache returns when I have to talk about them...or him, really.

"There's something weird about her-besides all of the other stuff I told you about her." I said glaring at the trees ahead. "Did I tell you about the time I heard the weird buzzing noise and it stopped as soon as I saw her...in the forest...at six in the morning?"

"But you get up at six every morning to run." She said while checking her red hair for split ends. "That makes her as normal as you are which, come to think of it, isn't very normal at all."

I frowned. "You aren't being very supportive for my shrink, ya know that, right?"

She just shrugged and turned her head. "Never said I was."

"Oh. I'm sorry if I'm boring you with my completely irrelevant feelings." I drawled sarcastically. It's annoying when the one person you think you can talk to seems to be ignoring you.

"But you aren't talking about your _real _feelings towards Sandi and Owen." She countered with ease. "Just your suspicions of her that you're using to cover up your -"

"_Don't_ say it." I hissed.

"Jealousy."

The weight of the word finally hit me, but I refused to believe it. I wasn't jealous. I was just...concerned that he'd end up getting hurt if Sandi really was up to something. What did he see in her anyways-

"Tara?"

"Huh?" I said, drawn out of my thoughts. She smirks at me knowingly and her green eyes twinkle.

"Children of Hermes may be able to hide most emotions, but this one's written all over your face." She said with a shake of the head and points at me from across the weather vane. "You miss him. Badly."

I **hate** it when she can read emotions like that. Must get it from her mother...

"The point is," I stab back. "Is that she could be in league with whatever's trying to destroy Olympus. If her mother's Gaia, why couldn't _she_ have caused all these earthquakes? And what if-"

SLAM!

Ok. And just like that, she's angry.

In a fit of anger, Megan slapped her hand onto the roof's tiles, causing me to pale a little. Her eyes flared with annoyance directed at me. This usually happens. I have trouble admitting things. She gets them out of me one way or another. It works. But she never got _that_ annoyed.

"Gods, we can't you just say it? Stop denying it!"

"Say WHAT?"

"You obviously feel like Sandicastle-"

A quick intake of breathe. She said the wretch's **name**!

"-is replacing you as Owen's...whatever you two are." she sounded exhausted. Probably with me. "You're using Marshall, your brother, this new threat even, as an excuse!"

I felt this sharp pang in my chest when she said that. But she was dead on. I frowned. "He's my best friend...or I thought he was-"

"'Best friends' don't usually get worked up over a girlfriend." She said causally.

"That's because he should have told me about her from the beginning!" I yelled in frustration. "He's told me about his numerous- 'girlfriends'- because they were never anything serious...Though I kind of went around, too. But they couldn't deal with him. He's as much an emotional wreck as I am!"

"You've seen how temperamental he can get. When I'm pissed off, he stays calm. When he's ready to cry _I'm_ the one who's there for him and he's always been there for me!" Holy **crap**. Am I tearing up again? Seriously? And these stupid chest pains! "So how the Hades does some girl he barely knows suddenly gain the right to be everything I was to him? Explain that to me. Please."

Megan was trying not to look at me with pity. She knows I hate that, but she couldn't help it. She inched over slowly and put an arm on my shoulder. Suddenly the clenching in my stomach is gone and I know she's got something to do with it.

"That feeling you're getting in your chest?" She said calmly. "It's called heartache."

How am I supposed to make snappy remarks when she says stuff like that?

" I _don't_ like him like that." I said unconvincingly. "It's always been him and me but now-"

I sat up straight as a sense of déjà vu came over me. I went back to last summer on the beach, where Owen had apologized...

_" I shouldn't have acted that way." He said remorsefully._

_"What way?"_

_" Towards you or Kade." He said. This time, he didn't say the name with disdain. " I shouldn't be the only guy friend in your life… even though it looks like you two are a bit more than that. Everything's just moved so fast… Before all this, it was just you and me, trying to get through school. But now it's…so much more different. Like a whole other world and I'm still trying to figure out how we ended up here._

"Just you and me..." I whispered curiously.

"What?"

_That's just how you are." I stated. He shook his head._

_"After you…died, I felt __terrible__. I mean, we've been best friends forever and… I thought you died thinking I hated you. It was the first time I'd cried since…Actually, I'm not sure I've ever cried that hard before."_

_I couldn't help but smile, just a little._

_"The point is I don't want anything to come between our friendship. No guy-"_

_"Or girl in your case." I pointed out._

_"- should come between us." He said smiling. "We'll always be friends- no matter how suspicious I am of him."_

I chuckled when I though of the memory. Things were simpler back then. Now I understood how he had felt when I was around Kade...which meant that he's liked me for a while...and he's been able to hide it because...Well, I've always had trouble reading Owen. I can tell if anyone's bluffing because it's a gift but with him...

"Is this supposed to be some kind of sign from your mom?" I asked Megan perplexed. She just shakes her head and grins.

So he's been hiding his feelings from me since whenever it was this whole 'thing' began, which means he must've been restraining himself whenever he was around me and Kade or with any other...wait.

"So if he likes me than why is he dating Sandi?" I asked desperately and the situation didn't make sense anymore. Then I was reminded of the blue stone necklace under my shirt. "Oh, gods, what about Kade?"

Megan's usually calm demeanor shifted and she tapped her foot in surprise. "Oh, shoot. We forgot about him, didn't we?"

_"You need to go." I whispered, pulling him away form the door. I pointed to the window. He gave me one last longing look before lifting it open and leaning onto the tree next to it. Lucky for him, the hotel wasn't very tall._

_"Don't forget me, alright?" he asked._

_" I won't." And with that, he slowly scaled down the tree. _

My eyes stung again. The one thing he had asked me to do and I couldn't even remember it.

"Hey, no crying, ok?" Megan said gently. "It's a little scary to be honest. You _never_ cry."

"I'm seriously beginning to wonder if something's wrong with me." I whispered softly. "What the hell do I do?"

"Just...try and talk to Owen." she reassured. "Maybe you guys can go back to being friendly and maybe he'll finally open up. You don't know when Kade's coming back-

"Or if." She glared daggers at me. "Sorry..."

"And you don't know if things will change so just go back to the way it was before. Because if Sandi is some spy infiltrating camp, I don't want you getting hurt either. And _talk to him_ because if this Silent War goes on any longer, I'm going to hurt both of you, got it?"

I shoved my hands in my pocket and stared at nothing in particular. Either this could help me somewhat or blow up in my face. But talking to Megan had helped so maybe talking to Owen would do some good.

"Alright."

Her smile at that moment was enough to light all of Manhattan. "Let's go pull a prank."

Ok, we just went from having an in-depth discussion about my muddled feelings to pulling a prank. But that's Megan for you.

**Ok...so Sawyer wasn't in this chapter, but he will be in the next one where the girls decide to pull a prank. It will be involving bathroom signs, a bit of magic and Clarisse. Quite a combination indeed. Remember to review and SERIOUS QUESTION: Do you think Tara's feelings make any sense? Does this ruin the whole KadexTaraxOwenxSandi rectangle thingy for you? Believe me, I'm just getting started. Thanks for reading!**

**LT**


	10. Our Secrets and Memories

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO.**

HEY!: Why isn't there an OC option button for this section? It'd make certain stories so much easier to find...whoops. Straying off topic. This'll be a good one. I promise. Oh, there's a poll on my profile page. Based on the evidence, what do you think is the new threat? Thanks. -**  
**

Chapter 10 Our Secrets and Memories (aka, an apology in the form of a long chapter)

"The way I see it," Megan continued as we slid the signs from their holders on the bathroom doors, "He's used to being just friends with you. Admitting he likes you would probably ruin your friendship."

My face scrunched in concentration. "But nothing really changed all that much between us this year. He seemed kind of spaced out most days, but that's because he's a daydreamer. He can't help it but... I always knew he was listening to me."

Megan scratched her head I deep thought. "So the entire time you two have been best friends, he's never once shown any interest in you at all?

"Well, it's not like I was the only girl he ever talked to," I huffed angrily. "I mean people did find him attract-"

Oh.

"What happened?" Megan pressed with alarm. "Oh, shoot. Are you having some vision again, like Marshall?"

It was like someone had sent a knife through my head and a memory I had pushed far into the back of my head was resurfacing. Thinking about it now...it was probably Aphrodite who did it. Always meddling in demigod affairs.

Suddenly my face felt warm and I started to fiddle with Kleftis. But if there was ever the time bring up the past, now was it. How could I have been so stupid?

"There might have been this _one_ time that Owen...or we might've..." I stammered uncomfortably. "Gods, this is embarrassing."

By now, the daughter of Aphrodite's interest was caught. She walked me over to the back of the bathroom and stared me down. She may not have particularly liked her mother, but she did inherit some of her traits.

"Talk." She ordered with amusement in her eyes. "I have a feeling this is going to be good.

_You have no idea_, I couldn't help but think. "Ok, just...don't judge me too quickly, alright?"

We latched pinkies, an oath that, in my opinion, was way more powerful than the Styx. I took a deep breath.

*** (October 31, Sophmore Year)

It was a brisk October day in the big city. Taxi drivers, usually veering off the road to avoid trucks (this is New York we're talking about), were in a complete state of disarray. But the trucks weren't the problem. This time, it was a long line of high school students, waiting at the door of an old warehouse.

Inside of the building, Tara was half passed out on a couch. Around her the music blared at dangerous levels. Colors, from people's costumes and the lights above dance across the floor and reflect in her eyes. She groans as the myriad of noise and sights made her head spin.

"Who the Hades decided to have a Homecoming party in a warehouse?" she grumbled angrily. "And on 17th street of all places. Idiots."

She doesn't know what she had been thinking coming here. It was supposed to be the highlight of the year: partying, booze- the whole deal. Already ten kids were rejected at the door (one of them actually threw up) because they could barely stand straight.

She wasn't really enjoying herself and had paid forty bucks to get inside. Considering she was an underclassman and some people paid more, it was a good deal, but gods, this had been such a waste.

The last guy that tried groping, she elbowed him in the forehead. The place was packed with the rabid beasts, so no one noticed. It was weird. Some of her grade's most 'outstanding students' were making complete fools of themselves and on Monday, it would come back and bite them.

But it really got bizarre when the class president for the graduating seniors got up on the DJ's turntables and yelled, "I'M THE FREAKIN KING! YEAH!"

Everyone cheered as he leaped back down, faceplanting into the punch bowl. Funnily enough, he would be giving a speech about drunk driving on next Tuesday's assembly.

"This is really sad," Tara sighed. She got up to use the bathroom and stumbled to stand, the alcohol beginning to take its toll. She clung to railing and made her way down the stairs. Someone was giggling from behind a door to her right.

Ok, not going over there, she thought.

The lights are so dim in this part of the hall she could barely see a few feet ahead of her. Frustrated she pushed the next door closest to her.

It's a storage closest.

"Fan-freakin-tastic!" she seethed angrily. All Tara wanted was a bathroom. Was that too much to ask? A wave of sickness passes through her and she held the door.

"Looking for company?"

She's hoping to Hermes that it's Owen because there's no way she's about to be another story at her school's rumor mill. What had her mother been thinking, applying her at some prep school?

She turned around and it's a senior, David Brewton. Captain of the school's slightly mediocre football team, he was notorious for being a bit of a man-whore. And, just Tara's luck, he was drunk. Like, really drunk.

He walked over to her, a sloppy grin on his face. He smelled like expensive, overbearing cologne and ...Heineken?

She stood there calmly, fighting down the urge to scream, kick him where it hurts and run.

This is almost as bad as fighting a monster, she told herself. Almost.

Seeing her discomfort, he smirked and leaned against the exit, his frame filling the entire doorway.

"Nice skirt," he stated. She gave a small, tight grin of appreciation. "You mind taking it off?"

Ok, she thought angrily. He comes any closer and I **will** run him through with Kleftis.

It couldn't hurt mortals in sword form, but as a switchblade, it did damage. With almost inhumane speed, David pins her to the wall with her arms apart. "I'll be gentle, I promise."

Finally finding her voice she screamed, "Get off of me, you PERVERT!"

He chuckled and forced his lips on hers. He reeks of alcohol and hamburgers, a disgusting mix. Tara found his bottom lip and bit down as hard as she could, pushing him away as he shouted in pain. She sprinted before the exit before a hand grabbed her arm and yanked her backwards.

He's swearing at the top of his lungs and put all of his weight on her to keep her on the cold floor.

"You know as well as I do why you even came here." David growled angrily and tugged at her blouse. "Why do you think any of us come to these parties? The food? We're all after the same thing, Tara."

For some strange reason, she found herself wondering how he even knew her name.

"You're insane," she said in a daze. "You know that right?"

He narrows his eyes at her and leaned forward.

"Brewton."

Tara peered over David's shoulder and could only make out a tall, lean frame with unruly hair. Her heart leaped in relief.

"Dale?" David said perplexed. He looks from Owen to Tara and the smirks. "If you haven't noticed, I'm a little bus-"

Owen pushed a hand forward. "_Efiáltis_."

The brown-eyed brute blinked in confusion before his eyes widened in horror and he scrambled away from Tara. He screamed and his hand flew in the air, as if her were warding off birds.

"Make it stop! Please!" he cried. "Help me!"

But the son of Morpheus helped Tara up and led her out of the room, a hand around her waist. They walk back over to the couch where Tara had left her bag and went towards the exit.

"So," she said to break the ice, "what exactly did you do to him?"

He kept walking, but his grip on her waist tightened. Ok, they were playing the quiet game. Cool.

He hailed the nearest taxi and opened the passenger door, gently pushing her inside.

"149th and River Avenue." The cabbie looked at him funnily. "I can pay, believe me."

Tara gazed at him warily, not sure if he was furious or just rattled. His eyes were dilated, so she knows he's a little tipsy. But he stared straight ahead. It was like this for a half hour before they were stuck in traffic and the silence got to her.

"Can you please just talk to me?" she pleaded gently. " What do you want me to say? Going was a big mistake, the drinks were terrible anyways-"

He turns to her quickly. "That's not the point-"

"The what IS?"

His anger in his face ebbs away and he slumps in his seat. Her foggy mind finally registered that he was wearing a firefighter's costume, with just the suspenders, yellow pants and an over coat. He looked pretty good.

"This was stupid anyway," he whispered out of the driver's earshot. "If monsters had been out tonight, we'd have been screwed."

"Your costume's nice," she said sleepily. He raised an eyebrow at the change of subject but couldn't help smiling a little. She noticed an angry red line running across his chest and touched it gently. "I didn't know you had a scar."

"Um...might've been in Omaha," He muttered. "Remember the bull at the zoo?"

She smiled as the memories came back. That had been one hell of a quest...

Then they remembered Kade and Owen seemed angry again.

"What exactly were you thinking wearing a school girl outfit to a party like this?" he said crossly. "If you wear skirts that short, you know that's like asking for attention, right?"

Tara rolled her eyes in annoyance and folded her arms across her chest. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with wearing a skirt, knee socks a tie and collared shirt," she replied with controlled irritation. "And if you think walking around in suspenders, pants and no shirt on isn't asking for attention-"

"That's different," he said while looking away.

"No, it isn't," she snapped. "Maybe if I knew where you were, that wouldn't have happened." Then she really hit boiling point. "And if you think I asked to be cornered by some creepy senior and almost raped, then you're out of your mind, Owen Eliot Dale."

He winced at her words and his eyes softened. "Did he-"

"No," I drawled sarcastically. "But it was nice that you noticed after I mentioned it. Nice to know you care."

"Of course I care!" he said with pain. "I care so much it fucking hurts sometimes. You have no idea how I hate it when you're with-"

An uncomfortable silence filled the cab and we pulled in front of his house. "When I what?"

"It doesn't matter. We're here." He got out of the car, holding the door open for her as she went up the stairs. After paying the driver, he unlocked the door and they went inside. It was a small, dingy apartment complex with about four other tenants. Owen and his mom lived n the third floor.

"Is she home tonight?" Tara asked carefully. Owen shook his head sadly.

"She probably has some other clients to 'entertain' or whatever."

They take the elevator up, pressing the wrong buttons twice before getting it right. When they arrived at his apartment, she immediately went into his room and borrowed one of his shirts and shorts (He wouldn't mind. He never did). Her costume smelt like David and she did not want to walk around in that.

When she came out changed, Owen was in the kitchen with two glasses of water on the counter. "Figured you were thirsty..."

In other words: I'm sorry.

She drank gingerly, watching him out of the corner of her eyes.

"We never really fit in, did we?" he asked thoughtfully. "Some of them, they're so rich, they probably won't have to worry about college, but me and you? If we don't get eaten or killed by monsters first, maybe then we can talk about school."

"I'm sorry," she blurted out. " I didn't mean to upset you like that. It's just... I figure that we could die any day, right? We're demigods, it's bound to happen. But I just wanted to see what it's like again, you know?"

He nodded in agreement and they lapsed into a comfortable silence. "Can we go to sleep now?"

Owen chuckled at how child-like she sounded and washed the glasses. By the time he went into his room, Tara was already there, wrapped in his favorite brown blanket. He crawled next to her and –before her realized it- his arm was around her waist again, pulling her close.

She stiffened for a second before relaxing and snuggled closer. "You're still wearing your costume."

"I know."

"How come?"

He waited awhile before replying. "Because firefighters protect and serve...well, better than the cops in this neighborhood," he whispered. "They're cool, incredibly good-looking and... they're always saving people."

She turned around to stare at him, their faces inches apart. "But you'll always be there for me, right? Regardless of anything else?"

He frowned and muttered, "Well, if I've got a date or something, I might not-"

"Owen!"

He chuckled and grinned sleepily before resting his chin on her head. "I'll always be there for you, Tae- as much as you'll let me be."

(end)

"Oh..."

"Oh?" I screeched in anxiety. "He practically poured his heart out and I- how did I NOT remember-"

"Well, you were kind of drunk." Megan stated logically. " Unless someone hid them from you on purpose."

"You mean like... a god messing with my memories?" I asked exasperatedly. "Why can't they just leave me alone?"

The redhead bit her lip in focus and shook her head. "Look, let's the switch the bathroom signs for now and wreak more havoc later. Gods, this stuff can give you headaches."

"You're telling me." I murmured. After slipping the bathroom signs, we took a step back to admire our handiwork. With a few more people, we could have unhinged the doors to make it seemed more believable, but this worked, too. "Ok, now for the charm."

Megan grinned mischievously as she ran a hand through her hair. Her usually green eyes were as bright as the ocean and she seemed to glow, at least more than she usually does. I used Lure, a Hermes trick, to use my eyes as a trap. Anyone who looked at them would feel compelled to come closer.

Kevin, newbie son of Krios that Owen had recruited on our first mission was coming up the hill towards the bathrooms. He dark hair was plastered to his face with sweat. He had probably been in the arena. I glanced at Megan to see if she was ready, but she had this dazed look on her face. It was frightening...like a predator.

"He's cute," she purred.

"What?"

As he came closer, her eyes were glued to him. She seemed to be drinking him in, her eyes trailing from his face to his-

"Megan, what the Hades!" I yelled, slapping her in the head. Putting it lightly, she didn't appreciate that and kicked me in he shin.

At least she was back to her old self.

"You mind telling me what that was?" She glared at me, but I saw something else there: Fear?

"Not now."

By that time, Kevin had seen us and was seemed stunned.

"H-hi," he managed to say. He kept darting his head between the both of us like he couldn't decide which to give his undivided attention.

"Hey!" I piped happily, but all I could think was, _Man, he's whipped_.

Megan was grinning at him like he was this cute toy her parents had gotten her for Christmas and she couldn't wait to start playing with it.

He immediately stared at his sneakers. Whatever power Megan was exerting on him was taking a toll and he was shifting in place, like his shorts were uncomfortable.

"Are you going somewhere?"

"Don't scare him, Tara," Megan said sympathetically. If anyone was frightening anyone, it was her. She put an arm around his shoulder and the direct contact caused his entire body to jerk up. "You're probably tired right?"

All he could do was nod. She stared at Kevin with the gaze of a hunter finally zeroing in on its prey. But then she blinked and it was gone.

"Well don't let us keep you waiting." She said gingerly. Then she smirked. "Have fun in the showers-"

"Megan!"

"I meant-no- just get inside, damn it!" She pushed him into the bathrooms and ran off. I ran after her in earnest.

"Hey," I shouted. "You owe me an explanation, Megan. I spill my secrets, you do, too!"

Eventually, she slowed down near the pegasi stables and turns to me with fear and embarrassment in her eyes. She opens her mouth to speak but and unholy racket came from the bathrooms.

"What are you _doing_ in here, you pervert!" someone roared. Not yelled, roared.

I paled. "Is that Clarisse?"

"Clarisse takes _showers_?"

Only seconds later, Kevin was projected out of the bathroom with a _bang_! He scrambled away in confusion.

Pranks are _awesome_.

Back to the problem at hand. I stared Megan down, like she did to me earlier, with my arms crossed.

"Talk, now," I smirked. "I can tell this is going to be interesting."

We pinkie-square. She shifted from foot to foot, looking at the pegasi, the trees but not me. The charms she placed on herself was already beginning to dim.

"It's a daughter of Aphrodite thing." She said slowly. "You know how most of my siblings are thought to be..."

"Sluts? Manwhores? Promiscuous-"

"Yes, I get it," she glared angrily. " It's not true for all of us but sometimes we can't really...help it."

I raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

She fought the blush creeping up her face. "We all have this urge to find...companionship or whatever. Most in my cabin embrace it, which is why they're so obsessed with couples and stuff. Who wouldn't want to look drop dead gorgeous and get the attention it comes with? Some don't." she huffed angrily and stuffed her hands in her pockets. "If you don't do it at all, then it's like...I don't know, once in a while I have to..."

"That sounds like puberty."

"No!" she exclaimed in surprise. "It's way worse. It's like if I see some really attractive guy nearby, these things start happening and one thing leads to another and then-"

"Whoa! So have you ever..."

She rolled her eyes at me. "No. I've never 'done the deed'. It's mainly random hook-ups, whom I later swear to secrecy on pain of castration. But when I get older, it might get worse."

Now I'm the one staring at her in pity. Megan's a tough girl. Her father and my stepfather, Ryan, were both jackasses who'd kick us around. But it wasn't until she almost beat his head in with a frying pan that he finally gave her some respect. But she left him eventually. She said foster care beat living with him any day.

But seeing her have to go every day hoping she didn't screw up royally...that must've sucked.

"So there's nothing you can do to stop it?" She shook her head.

"I've asked mother dearest, but she's no help," she said rolling her eyes. "I've even asked Chiron if there was any way to stop it but he doesn't know anything."

"What about Mr. D?" I asked. We both stared at each other before laughing until we cried. "Yeah, never mind."

"It's cool," she stated. "I'll just deal with it the best I can. I hope that kid doesn't start stalking me like the last one...Tara?"

"Huh?"

"How old is your brother?" Weird question.

"He's four now...why'd you ask?"

Then she smiled and pointed behind me. "Because he must be really smart to figure out how to work an Iris Message."

I whipped around in disbelief and my baby brother, shaggy black hair and all, was waving at me.

*#$

Weren't expecting that were you? Not sure why, but I'm liking TaraXOwen (Towen?) a bit more. Maybe that'll change in tte future, knowing me... So next chap

1) Tara will be set on another recruiting mission, where she and Owen talk (finally)

2) Something tragic happens that's so bad, Tara may just lose it.

3) We find out what the threat is (it kinda complies with The Heroes of Olympus but in my defense I've had this since before the Lost Hero came out.)

Efiáltis= Nightmare in greek

Sorry, it's taken so long.

LT


	11. Things You Can't Ignore

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO. **

**I give you all the right to yell at me for being so late with this update. Kind of a filler chapter. no major meltdown yet (sorry), but you get to see a bit more into her personal life and her friendship with Megan (who will be a pretty important character in the third 'book'...if I ever get to that.)**

Chapter 11 Things You Can't Ignore

"Sawyer!" I blurted out. I wasn't sure whether to scream in happiness or cry. For a split second I thought about hugging him until I remembered it was an Iris Message. "How did you...where the Ha-heck- are you?"

He scratched his neck and chewed on his lip a little. Behind him, I caught a glimpse of our local park in all its tacky, worn out glory. There were twig-like trees and rusty blue monkey bars with words "Yur a Turd" in big black letters.

"I scratched that in when I was eight," I pondered thoughtfully (just shows how talented I was at that age). "Sawyer, why are you at the park?"

He beamed at once and stood a little straighter, his dark curly hair falling in front of his eyes again. _When was the last time she gave him a haircut?_ I thought angrily. "Mommy got the day off and said it was a treat."

It's true. For our mom, breaks from work were far and few in between. I can't remember the last time my mother ever took him anywhere else except from his daycare to home...but back to the story.

It was hard, figuring out what to ask him: Is mom alright? How are you feeling? Is that girl, Rachel Becker, still bothering you? Did you figure out how to write with both hands yet? (My brother's unique, ok? His does stuff like that.). I decided to let him ask a question first.

"Can't believe you figured it out, Soy Bean," I said smiling. Megan was standing behind me, watching the scene with amusement and folded arms. I shot her a look. "Tell anyone I got this mushy and-"

"I understand," she smirked.

I turned back to Sawyer, taking him in. He looked a little taller, not as skinny as before and slightly tanned. _Good_, I thought with relief._ That means he's not stuck inside all day._

Hey, don't judge me. I hadn't seen him in months. Excuse me for being a little overprotective.

"Tara, I'm _fine_," he said huffily. The twerp knew I was about to bombard him with questions. "Can you tell me about your camp? You said you'd tell more about it."

Oh.

_Well this could get awkward._ I thought nervously. Until then, I'd mentioned the basics: It's a camp for teenagers (not kids, because then he'd ask why he can't come along too) with certain disabilities (more like inhumane powers, but whatever) and it's mandatory that I go.

A quick look passed between Megan and I as we decided which parts to leave out. We had kind of discussed what to say in the event that something like this was to happen. Megan's almost as good at lying as I am, so I knew she'd have my back.

"Well, we do arts and craft-" I began.

Sawyer pouted at me. "You could do that here with me. I have lots of feathers and glue and stuff."

"Um...well this is..."

"And if your ATP starts acting up-"

"ADHD," Megan corrected him with a grin. "ATP is the chemical energy your body makes to keep your cells functioning...what?"

My brother and I looked at her with similar expressions of disbelief and surprise. "Biology? Freshman year?" I chuckled. She rolled her eyes at me and nodded. Sawyer just laughed and said,

"What are you doing right now?" I looked at Megan in confusion only to see her smirking and it finally dawned on me. Kids his age have the attention span of a fruit fly. Just a small interruption was enough to divert his attention.

I knew there was a reason Megan and I were friends.

"We just finished pulling a prank," I said, trying to fight the smirk making its way to my face. "We switched the signs on the bathrooms. Anyone who goes inside is in for a pretty rude surprise."

"Oh," he said thoughtfully. "Like that time I had to pee and you wouldn't get out of the bathroom, so I walked in and you were –"

"Yes, Sawyer, like that," I said hurriedly. Suddenly my face felt a low hotter than it should. Megan, who –for my personal shrink- loves to see me embarrassed, was cackling uncontrollably against an oak tree. "This isn't funny. He does it all the time. No manners..."

The four year old folded his arms in annoyance. He was kinda cute when he got angry. "You yelled at me because of that."

I sighed and had to force myself not to roll my eyes. "I apologized for that **several times** and bought you ice cream before dinner. What more did you want me to do?"

He gave me this little smirk, like he'd only done it to get my attention. See what I mean about being sneaky? I'm starting to think it runs in the family. If only Ryan would somehow fall out a window...

_That's mean, even for me._ I thought in remorse.

"Where's Omen?"

I instantly recoiled at the name and I was almost happy that he couldn't really pronounce his w's yet (for whatever reason). I was still trying to figure out what was going on with him, and what was going on in **his** head (and mine) to make me feel like this. I was hoping Megan would take this one for me, but when I looked at her, the expression said it all: This one's on you.

" He's at ...sword pract-"

"He's swimming in the lake!" Megan blurted out to him, a clear WTF expression directed towards me. I mouthed an apology to her while Sawyer, distracted, played with a dandelion. I looked over the Iris message, expecting to see anything except for more trees and the lake, but instead the last person I wanted to see, maybe second only to Owen, was making his way towards us.

Chrion.

Ok, before you jump down my throat, I don't mean it like "I never did like him. He's a suckish camp leader anyway." It's more the fact that seeing him means I have another demititan to find. Sometimes it wasn't him who showed up to carry the news. Usually it was one of the nymphs –which gave me to leeway to snap at whenever I pleased.

Without thinking, I turned my attention back to Sawyer. "Look, Soy Bean, I really need to go right now, ok? Important...business."

His face fell and my heart just about broke looking into his eyes. His pupils looked darker and even more depressed than before. No four year old should look like that.

"Sawyer, I'll message you back, as soon as I finish this," I said almost desperately ad tried ignoring the stinging in my eye. "Tell mom I said hi. Only her."

He nodded at me slowly before frowning again. "Why don't you like daddy?"

Well, that was the **wrong** question to ask.

I visibly flinched when Sawyer called him that and I wasn't really sure why. I just...can't like him. He's a decent father most of the time when he doesn't come home wasted as Hades and mad at the world (and guess who he took it out on, besides me mom?). I had my reasons to hate him, but to say something like that to Sawyer would have been irrational and awful even for me.

"They've just got differences, Sawyer."

My head whipped around towards Megan as smiled at my brother ruefully. When I think about it, she knew where I was coming from. My step-dad and her father could have been brothers themselves, the way they treated us. Maybe I wasn't doing enough to keep my animosity for Ryan away from Sawyer. I gave her a grateful smile and nodded at Sawyer.

"But we'll try and get through them, I promise," I stated solemnly and waved. "See you later."

He gave a small smile before waving back and I cut the Iris- message off.

"I'm such a shitty sister," I said aloud. Megan tried to argue but I shook my head. "No, Megan. I'm right and you know it. I can't swallow my own damn pride and get along with his **father** just to make him happy! How the-"

I stopped talking as the galloping got closer to us and we turned to see Chiron. Pulled up in front of us, he looked as he usually did with his bow strapped to his back and arrows in the quiver. But his face looked pinched and uncomfortable. Fearful even.

"So where's the portfolio?" I asked emotionlessly. This was the way it worked after I recruited Mandy. I'd be handed a portfolio with little to no information and pray to whatever gods who heard me that I would find the person before nightfall. But he merely shook his head.

"You have to come to the Big House with me. Now." Without another word, he turned around and headed back. I looked at Megan. She rolled her eyes.

"I'll come along," she said with a small smile. "Only to make sure you don't say something wrong-"

"And get turned into a turkey?"

She laughed. "Yeah, something like that."

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Next chapter: Change of plans with the recruitment- Tara, Rollin and Owen (along with a friend. Guess who.) will be searching for this demitian. Tara and Owen talk (finally)...and some stuff happens. bad or good, depending how you look at it. Sorry for taking so long.

**LT**


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